BREAKING: In Goa testing for Omicron variant takes 2 months, as state does not have genome sequencing facility

PANAJI: In the light of the rapid global proliferation and spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, an international tourist destination like Goa does not have a genome sequencing lab, which till date is the only reliable method to confirm the presence of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Samples sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune or to other states take a minimum of two months to be analyzed, senior state health officials confirmed.

With the testing load exponentially increasing at the Pune Institute and in other states, Goa’s test results may never be out for months, they opined.

According to a Times of India report, more than six months ago, Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane had proposed the setting up of a genome sequencing facility at GMC after it was realised that there were inordinate delays in receiving reports from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune, where samples were routinely sent for genomic sequencing.

Since March this year, though Goa sent randomly-selected samples to NIV, Pune, and subsequently to other laboratories in other states, according to the TOI report, most reports were received more than a month later, and after the worst phase of the second wave ended, causing the deaths of hundreds of Goans.

Doctors in Goa treating Covid patients, didn’t know for sure which variant the patient was infected with and relied on intuition and guesswork, as the genome sequencing reports were not available for weeks at a stretch during the peak of the second wave, a doctor from the state-run GMC told this reporter.

Presently, results of around 400 samples sent during the last few months are still awaited and are not likely to be available in this calendar year.

With 5 people, including two Russian nationals, who arrived in Goa on board a merchant navy ship testing positive for coronavirus, the results of the presence of the Omicron variant may never be out – at least not till the third wave is over as hundreds of samples from Maharashtra itself have piled up at the NIV.

Medical experts opined Goa is sitting on a time-bomb as it lacks state-of-the-art testing facilities for the Omicron variant. In the last six months, the government could have met the criteria to set up a genome sequencing lab, but it continues to rely on other states for such hi-tech medical infrastructure.

Lokhancho Ekvott, a social forum is moving the Bombay High Court at Goa this week seeking directions to the State to get its act together and ensure that Omicron variant testing results are available at least in a week’s time.