Amid the rising Covid cases in China and other nations, the Centre on Tuesday urged all states to increase genome sequencing of Covid-positive samples.

In a letter to the States and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “in view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network. Such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same."