Experts say that if a new variant is found in a specific area, there is an urgent need to trace and test the contacts of all suspected patients to contain the spread of the virus.
Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Thursday said that no new coronavirus variant has been identified from around 150 samples tested at the newly established COVID-19 genome sequencing facility in Patiala.
In a statement issued here, Sidhu said that earlier the samples were sent to the National Center for Disease Control in Delhi where the results would take more than a month to come.
Experts say that if a new variant is found in a specific area, there is an urgent need to trace and test the contacts of all suspected patients to contain the spread of the virus, he said.
Now, with the state’s first genome sequencing facility at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Patiala, the report will be available in five to six days, he said.
He said the genome sequencer and accessories have been donated by PATH, a US-based non-profit organisation.
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