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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2020  |  Volume : 151  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 216-225

Laboratory preparedness for SARS-CoV-2 testing in India: Harnessing a network of Virus Research & Diagnostic Laboratories

Nivedita Gupta1, Varsha Potdar2, Ira Praharaj1, Sidhartha Giri1, Gajanan Sapkal3, Pragya Yadav3, Manohar Lal Choudhary2, Lalit Dar4, AP Sugunan5, Harmanmeet Kaur6, Ashok Munivenkatappa7, Jayanthi Shastri8, Krishnasamy Kaveri9, Shanta Dutta10, Bharti Malhotra11, Amita Jain12, Kammilli Nagamani13, GB Shantala14, Sharmila Raut15, MM Vegad16, Ajanta Sharma17, Aashish Choudhary4, Megha Brijwal4, Anukumar Balakrishnan5, Jayaswamy Manjunatha7, Manish Pathak8, Sivasubramanian Srinivasan9, Hasina Banu10, Himanshu Sharma11, Parul Jain12, Pakalpati Sunita13, R Ambica14, Babita Fageria15, Disha Patel16, Gitika Rajbongshi17, Neetu Vijay6, Jitendra Narayan6, Neeraj Aggarwal1, Anu Nagar6, Raman R Gangakhedkar1, Priya Abraham18
1 Division of Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
2 Influenza Group, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, India
3 Maximum Containment Laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, India
4 Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
5 ICMR-National Institute of Virology Kerala Unit, Alappuzha, Kerala, India
6 Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India
7 ICMR-National Institute of Virology Bangalore Field Unit, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
8 Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Mumbai, India
9 Department of Virology, King Institute of Preventive Medicine & Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
10 ICMR-National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
11 Department of Microbiology, Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
12 Department of Microbiology, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
13 Department of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Secunderabad, Telangana, India
14 Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
15 Department of Microbiology, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
16 Department of Microbiology, Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat &, India
17 Department of Microbiology, Gauhati Medical College & Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India
18 ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, India

Correspondence Address:
Dr Priya Abraham
Director, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune 411 001, Maharashtra
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_594_20

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Background & objectives: An outbreak of respiratory illness of unknown aetiology was reported from Hubei province of Wuhan, People's Republic of China, in December 2019. The outbreak was attributed to a novel coronavirus (CoV), named as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 and the disease as COVID-19. Within one month, cases were reported from 25 countries. In view of the novel viral strain with reported high morbidity, establishing early countrywide diagnosis to detect imported cases became critical. Here we describe the role of a countrywide network of VRDLs in early diagnosis of COVID-19. Methods: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, established screening as well as confirmatory assays for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 13 VRDLs were provided with the E gene screening real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assay. VRDLs were selected on the basis of their presence near an international airport/seaport and their past performance. The case definition for testing included all individuals with travel history to Wuhan and symptomatic individuals with travel history to other parts of China. This was later expanded to include symptomatic individuals returning from Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea. Results: Within a week of standardization of the test at NIV, all VRDLs could initiate testing for SARS-CoV-2. Till February 29, 2020, a total of 2,913 samples were tested. This included both 654 individuals quarantined in the two camps and others fitting within the case definition. The quarantined individuals were tested twice - at days 0 and 14. All tested negative on both occasions. Only three individuals belonging to different districts in Kerala were found to be positive. Interpretation & conclusions: Sudden emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and its potential to cause a pandemic posed an unsurmountable challenge to the public health system of India. However, concerted efforts of various arms of the Government of India resulted in a well-coordinated action at each level. India has successfully demonstrated its ability to establish quick diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 at NIV, Pune, and the testing VRDLs.


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