This project has been instrumental in identifying new COVID-19 variants and keeping the government abreast of the COVID-19 variants in the population, supporting and assisting in Public Health Decisions.

Vision

Genome surveillance enables gauging the distribution and level of penetration of COVID-19 within the population. This directly impacts policy decisions and decisions on the health of the city’s population. The sequences are also uploaded to an international and national database enabling wider research and detection of more variants.

Description

PKC has helped synergize a multi-stakeholder collaboration in Pune to upscale genomic surveillance by ramping up sequencing efforts and bio-informatics. Genomic sampling strategy was based on epidemiological data and clinical meta-data. PKC facilitated retrospective, clinical, and prospective sequencing of samples with a focus on vaccine breakthroughs and reinfection cases. PKC collaborates with PMC to reach out to multiple stakeholders for the collection and sequencing of COVID-19 samples. These sequences are uploaded to central (IGIB) and international (GISAID) COVID-19 databases. Experts correlated the epidemiological dynamics and clinical outcomes of patients and aided in the implementation of appropriate public health and medical countermeasures.

Objectives

• Identification of variants of interests and the variants in the population.
• Enabling governments to make policy decisions based on the findings of our sequencing.
• Building a collaborative and open research environment that encourages groups to come together for a common purpose/goal.

Partners

• CCMB
• NCBS
• PMC
• GenePath Dx
• Noble Hospital
• Deenanath Hospital
• KEM Hospital
• Health Accurate Diagnostics
• IISER, Pune
• NCL, Pune
• Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College, Pune
• A G Diagnostics
• Sahyadri Hospital
• Suyog Diagnostics
• Suburban Diagnostics
• Thyrocare
• PH Diagnostics
• Jehangir Hospital
• Ruby Hall Clinic
• Symbiosis University Hospital and Research Centre, Pune