Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in collaboration with BRICS countries is implementing SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium and multi-centric programme to study the impact of severe COVID-19 conditions on tuberculosis (TB) patients.

The SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium is an interdisciplinary collaboration to advance COVID-19 health-relevant knowledge and to contribute to improvements in health outcomes.

The consortium will accelerate the translation of genomic data leading to clinical and public health research and interventions from clinical and surveillance samples by utilising the high-end genomic technologies, and epidemiologic and bioinformatics tools for future use in diagnostic assays and tracking transmission dynamics of COVID-19 and other viruses. 

The collaborative study is expected to provide valuable co-morbidity data about pulmonary TB patients with or without COVID-19 co-infection that is expected to be generated for better disease management.

Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary of, Department of Biotechnology remarked that the department has taken small steps in the right direction towards collaboration with BRICS countries. She also remarked that the Department plans to expand the BRICS programme.