Delta, Lineages Can't Fully Escape Immunity, Make Vax A Priority

Almost 25% of the genome sequencing samples in the country came from Maharashtra, where the SARS-CoV-2’s Delta variant was first found around six months ago.

- Malathy Iyer

Data from the Indian Covid Genome Surveillance shows Maharashtra has so far provided 11,968 samples — twice the number studied from other high incidence states such as Kerala and Delhi. CSIR’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology’s (IGIB) team of Dr Sridhar Sivasubbu and Dr Vinod Scaria, who work closely with the Maharashtra public health department on the genome surveillance project, tell Malathy Iyer that the state should be the role model for others because samples were chosen in a scientific manner to ensure every district was covered.

Q: Your team has been studying samples from the two most affected states, Maharashtra and Kerala. Please share your observations about Maharashtra.

A: The programmes in Maharashtra and Kerala were developed as a collaborative initiative between CSIR and the state governments. They are designed for surveillance, to provide early warning and aid public health policy. A key observation about Maharashtra is the systematic and uniform genome sequencing across each district. This helped identification of emerging variants and the state government promptly applied public health measures. Maharashtra should be the role model for other states.