The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start a lab for genome sequencing in Kasturba Hospital. The machine for this — worth '6.5 crore — arrived in Mumbai after much delay, and the lab will start in the first week of August after initial testing. The lab will help  track Covid-19 variants within two to three days and stop the spread of the virus.

Many cases of the delta variant of Covid-19 are being reported across the country. Though  cases of delta were found in the city, reports from the national laboratory for genome sequencing came three to four months after they were detected. Hence the BMC decided to start its own genome sequencing lab at Kasturba hospital, Mahalaxmi.