Centre To Examine Sewage Samples For Covid Circulation Intensity: Report

The exercise will be carried out as part of the INSACOG's genomic surveillance activity and a chain of institutions and laboratories will participate in it.

Sewage samples will be collected as part of a soon-to-be-launched environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 to ascertain the intensity of the virus circulation in the community and detect the emergence of any new variant, official sources said on Wednesday. The exercise will be carried out as part of the INSACOG's genomic surveillance activity and a chain of institutions and laboratories will participate in it. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) is a grouping of 28 laboratories involved in monitoring the genomic variations in coronavirus in the country. According to sources, the environmental surveillance will complement the current genomic surveillance done at sentinel sites across the country, including a network of tertiary care hospitals and medical colleges.