In a boost to the country’s pandemic response, Nepal’s National Public Health Laboratory has now been equipped to perform genome-sequencing tests that will enable authorities to identify various variants of the Covid-19 virus prevailing in the country. 

The facility has been set up with assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO), reported The Kathmandu Post. Earlier, Nepal used to send swab samples either to New Delhi or Hong Kong for these tests. 

“We have already performed a whole-genome sequencing test of over 100 swab samples of the infected people. Now we can regularly perform whole-genome sequencing in our own laboratory,” Rajesh Kumar Gupta, the spokesperson for the National Public Health Laboratory, was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. 

“It helps to know which virus is circulating in the country, and if the virus has changed its variant or how infectious the virus is,”  he added. The WHO has deployed its own technicians to supervise the process. 

The facility in Nepal is a Nanopore DNA sequencing machine, which is small and cost-effective, said an official of the health ministry. The operational cost of large-sized whole-genome sequencing facilities could take around $500 for each sample while the facility set up at the National Public Health Laboratory can perform the task at around $50 to $60.

However, the error rate of the Nanopore DNA sequencing is relatively higher compared to higher-end machines, he added.