New Delhi: In a bold and outspoken interview, one of India’s foremost scientists and a member of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing Consortia (INSACOG), has confirmed that in early March, the expert advisory panel of which he is a part had formally warned the government of its “high concern” that new and more contagious variants of coronavirus were taking hold of the country and, as a result, it was very likely that Covid cases and deaths would increase exponentially.
INSACOG is a consortium of 10 national laboratories handling genome sequencing.
Dr. Rakesh Mishra, who is also the director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, said: “This concern was raised… it was a kind of warning that we are heading towards danger”.
Mishra has thus confirmed the critical first part of a major story released by Reuters on Monday which has so far been largely ignored by the Indian media.