The health department of Uttarakhand is awaiting the approval of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for setting up the facility of genome sequencing of the Covid-19 patients in the state. At present the department is sending samples to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) New Delhi for genome sequencing. It is learnt that the department has sent the proposal to start genome sequencing of the samples at the labs of Government Medical College (GDMC) Dehradun, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, government medical college Haldwani and government medical college Srinagar. The ICMR is keen to increase the facility of genome sequencing in the country to increase the surveillance of the virus. At present the genome sequencing facility is available in 20 odd centres in the country.
