Lag in Covid data update by INSACOG panel a concern: Experts
The latest INSACOG bulletin, which was uploaded mid-October, was the first statement from the body on the Omicron sub-lineage XBB. It came at least three weeks after the sub-lineage was first detected in the country, and that too was nearly a month old.
Weekly bulletins by INSACOG – a consortium of India’s top laboratories – that provide an overview of the Sars-Cov-2 strains in circulation in the country have been getting delayed by months, and experts warn that such a lag may mean that the actual situation of the Covid-19 outbreak on ground may not be getting accurately reported.

The latest INSACOG bulletin, which was uploaded mid-October, was the first statement from the body on the Omicron sub-lineage XBB. It came at least three weeks after the sub-lineage was first detected in the country, and that too was nearly a month old.
A week prior to that, six bulletins – dated between July 18 to September 12 – were simultaneously released a week before that. This is despite the fact that the bulletin, as announced by the government, was meant to be released on a weekly basis.
INSACOG website also mentions it as “weekly bulletin”.
The bulletin updated before that came out on July 11, highlighting the huge gap between the data that the government shares and the reality on ground in terms of Sars-CoV-2 variants currently in circulation across India as this RNA virus mutates at a greater rate.
The lag in updating of the database is crucial particularly because of the global spread of the XBB variant – an immune-evasive variant that has been identified in over 25 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported last Wednesday. XBB, a combination of Omicron’s BA.2.75 and BJ.1 subvariants, was first detected in Singapore in August, and since then has already been responsible for a sharp surge in Covid cases there.
To be sure, technical data is uploaded on the portal for the “benefit of researchers and academicians”, but it would not be possible for laypersons to analyse it, officials clarified.
Significantly, the spread of immune-evasive variants comes at a time when Covid restrictions and mask mandates have largely been removed across the world thanks to global vaccine coverage.
Different government ministries and departments are involved in managing INSACOG; however, according to people familiar with the matter, it is the Union health ministry that is to give final go ahead on what is made public.
“INSACOG has been releasing bulletin religiously every week as mandated and submitting it to the authorities concerned. There is no delay from the side of laboratories or the consortium,” said a member of the consortium, requesting anonymity.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) jointly initiated by the Union ministry of health, and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is a consortium of 54 laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in the Sars-CoV-2.
The data from the genome sequencing laboratories is analysed as per the field data trends to study the linkages between the genomic variants and epidemiological trends.
According to senior government officials familiar with the matter, the health ministry is holding back regularly releasing data in public domain out of fear of spreading panic among masses.
“There were instances in the past when certain portions of the bulletin were controversial making the health ministry take a decision to vet information before approving it for release in public domain for lay persons to understand better,” said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.
Health ministry did not respond to mailed queries on the matter till the time of going to press.
Experts warned, that since scientists are dealing with a virus that is capable of changing its characteristics on a week-by-week basic, it is important to stay ahead of any possible outbreak.
“It is an RNA virus; therefore, it will mutate at a greater rate. Regular updates will help in knowing which strain is circulating and which one is gaining ground; however, fear of creating panic among masses, to me, is baseless. Panic would be a result of higher number of hospitalisations and deaths,” said a senior public health expert, requesting anonymity.
Another section of experts said that virulence is gauged by the severity of disease.
“If suddenly there’s a spike in hospitalisations due to Covid after a lull, it’s hint enough to suggest there is a new mutant of concern circulating. Clinical manifestation of the disease says a lot,” said Dr GC Khilnani, former head of pulmonary department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.
Meanwhile, providing the Indian scenario, the INSACOG’s latest bulletin informed that BA.2 sublineage of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was the dominant strain in circulation.
“Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India. BA.2 and its descendent lineages, in particular, BA.2.75 has been mostly found over the last week in different parts of India. The incidence of BA.5 has decreased in the last few weeks. Any surge in hospitalisation or any disease severity has not been observed during this time-period,” reads the report.
The total number of samples sequenced is 286,860 so far, of which 78,073 are of the Omicron variant. In all, there have been 1,52,615 variants of concern and interest reported making it a significant 81.7%.
