Kerala set for world's second largest gene sequencing of SARS-CoV-2

Thiruvananthapuram: A programme to study the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, will begin in Kerala within a week.

Samples collected from each district of Kerala will be examined in the comprehensive study to be carried out by the Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGAB) under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

As many as 4,200 samples will be isolated and sequenced in three months, with 25 samples to be isolated in each of the 14 districts every week, 100 samples a month. A total of 1,400 samples will be taken in a month throughout the state.

The Kerala health department gave the permission for the study to be conducted under IGAB Principal Dr Vinod Zacharia.

Rs 68 lakh has been set aside for the study.

The state unit of the National Health Mission will carry out all activities related to the study including sample collection and isolation.

If the virus spread continues at the existing rate, then gene sequencing of the virus will continue. The cost of sequencing one sample comes to Rs 1,500.

Benefits of the study

The genomic sequencing of virus prevalent in Kerala will help understand its origin, the genetic changes it has undergone and whether any particular area has witnessed a huge spike in infections. The required changes in preventive strategies would be made based on the outcome of the study.

IGAB had sequenced 179 samples of SARS-CoV-2 isolated at the Kozhikode Medical College in August. Two important conclusions drawn from the sequencing are:

• The virus did not spread rampantly from people who came from abroad. The virus in Kerala was found to be variants of that found in Maharashtra, Odhisha and Karnataka.

• The samples isolated at the Kozhikode Medical College fell under a virus subtype or variant A2a clade (group). It is capable of increasing the spread virus on a big scale. During the study it was found that a particular area had witnessed a huge spike.

As of now about 4,000 coronavirus samples have been isolated and sequenced in India including Kerala. The general finding of the study points out that one-fifth of the virus spread in the state was brought about by inter-state travellers.

(SARS-CoV-2 is the acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2 and COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by this coronavirus. COVID-19 stands for Coronavirus disease 2019.)

Second biggest study

Only Britain and Australia are carrying out genomic sequencing of viruses of the scale that Kerala is planning to do. Considering the population ratio, Kerala's could be the second biggest study in the world.

This is the right time for carrying out such a study in Kerala as Covid has spread significantly. The reason for the spread is still not clear, but scientists hope to gain more clarity on it through gene sequencing. The findings may help in tweaking the preventive strategies.

The earlier finding that the virus had spread majorly in the state from those who arrived from other states rather than abroad, as was doubted, had helped the authorities in planning preventive strategies.

On November 19, Thursday, Kerala recorded 26 COVID-19 deaths, taking the official death toll to 1,969 in less than a year. The total COVID-19 case count meanwhile reached 5,45,641 with the state reporting 5,722 fresh cases on Thursday.

So far, 4,75,320 people have recovered from the disease, while 68,229 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja stated.