In Pune, samples are sent from the network of private laboratories, apart from municipal and state health authorities. Samples from other places are also sent to Pune's labs and further for genome sequencing, which has helped identify as many as 150 JN.1 variant cases in Pune.
“It seems that JN.1 Covid variant has replaced most other variants since December last year,” Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, Maharashtra genome sequencing coordinator, said.
There will also be two mobile control rooms along the route that the palanquins will take, with 1000 medical kits being provided to the Palkhi organisers.