A total of 90,361 samples of serum, nasopharyngeal swab, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells have been archived so far across the 17 national COVID-19 bio-repositories, the Science and Technology Minister said on 15 January.

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In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said these samples are being used to develop validated diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment. Additionally, the samples are a valuable resource for research and development related activities to understand the early predictors of disease severity, immunopathogenesis of the disease. He said 11,650 samples have been archived in the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) COVID-19 bio-repositories, 41,239 samples have been archived in the Department of Biotechnology COVID-19 bio-repositories and 37,472 samples have been archived in Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) COVID-19 bio-repositories.

A total of 90,361 samples (serum, nasopharyngeal swab, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells etc) have been archived so far across the 17 national COVID-19 bio-repositories, he said. A total of 17 COVID-19 bio-repositories were notified by the Centre last year. The COVID-19 bio-repositories at DBT institutes are: Translational Health Science and Technology Institute & Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad; Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar; Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore; Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Delhi; National Centre for Cell Science, Pune.

The ICMR COVID-19 bio-repositories are: National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune; NIV Field Unit, Bangalore; NIV Field Unit, Allapuzha, Kerala; National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata; National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad; National Institute for Implementation Research on Non-Communicable Diseases, Jodhpur; National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi; National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai; National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai.

The COVID-19 bio-repositories at CSIR institutes are: Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi; Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; and Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh.