Srinagar: A cluster of 24 COVID19 cases was detected in Srinagar on Saturday, triggering fears of a new variant spreading in the UT. With XE sub variant reported from India, stakeholders urge that the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) facility be made available locally for timely identification of mutant cases.
At least two cases of XE variant are being suspected in India and under the process of confirmation by the National Center for Disease Control. Indian SARSCoV2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG) has been continuously monitoring the mutations in a percentage of the RT-PCR samples from all states and UTs.
J&K has also been sending the samples for Whole Genome Sequencing to NCDC since December 2020. However, due to the load on the labs, a senior official in Health and Medical Education said, it takes at least a month to get the WGS report of a sample.
Over the past year, J&K Government has been promising WSG made available at two Government Medical Colleges in the UT – Jammu and Srinagar.
On Saturday, Block Medical Officer Hazratbal flagged 24 positive cases out of 47 tested with Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) at NIT Srinagar. The District Disaster Management Authority Srinagar later declared NIT Campus a Micro-containment zone.
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM) GMC Srinagar that looks after the health services of Block Hazratbal, is mulling sending the samples for WSG. Prof S Saleem Khan, head department of SPM said the cluster of cases at NIT were in a hostel. “If the samples are found positive on RT PCR and if they meet other criteria, we will send these for WSG,” he said.
He however said that there was no need to panic and over the past two months, there has been no significant rise in cases. Regarding the threat of the XE variant coming nearer, he said, “It may not be very significant, given that we had a massive Omicron Wave. Almost everyone was infected by that Wave and XE is just a sub-variant of Omicron, not a new one,” he said.
However, many doctors Greater Kashmir spoke to said that it would be too early to comment on the effects of XE variant and whether it could trigger a fourth wave. “We need to be cautious, and one of the cautions is early identification of variants,” a doctor who has been on the frontlines during the past three waves of COVID19 said.
He said it was high time that J&K had its own WGS set-up. No official from J&K Government was available for comment on the progress of WGS equipment procurement.
Additional Chief Secretary Health and Medical Education, J&K Government, Vivek Bhardwaj, had told Greater Kashmir last month that purchase orders for WGS equipment had been placed.