US-based Illumina has donated $1 million in sequencing capabilities to the Molecular Diagnostic Reference Laboratory at Kasturba Hospital, in the Municipal Corporate of Greater Mumbai, to help expand SARS-CoV-2 sequencing capabilities in the region and support the broader genomic surveillance effort across India.

Kasturba Hospital was the first hospital in Mumbai to begin sequencing SARS-CoV-2 this year and will examine how variants of the virus are being spread across India.

"Illumina believes in the democratisation of access to sequencing and we are committed to helping the regions of the world that carry most of the infectious disease burden to build genomics capabilities," said Francis deSouza, CEO, Illumina. "This donation will help to make NGS technology and expertise accessible in Mumbai, supporting the region and contributing to genomic surveillance in India more broadly."

The donation includes two of Illumina's newest next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, the NextSeq 2000, reagents, a rapid bioinformatics analysis platform (DRAGEN) and four years of service support for the sequencing installations. It is part of Illumina's broader philanthropic programme to provide access to NGS technology throughout the world to drive a global response that will be effective in supporting SARS-CoV-2 control efforts.