Biomedical researchers in India became the first to successfully isolate the UK strain of the coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said Saturday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2021) Biomedical researchers in India became the first to successfully isolate the UK strain of the coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said Saturday.
"The UK-variant of the virus, with all the signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimen from UK-returnees," the ICMR said on Twitter, adding that no other country has reported the achievement.
The council added that its scientists used the Vero cell lineage as hosts to isolate the virus. The culture will help researchers study the new variant more closely.
The UK variant of the coronavirus was first detected in Kent, England in September. In November, authorities announced that the mutations increased ease of transmission and may be driving the new wave of infections.
The announcement spurred many countries to suspend air travel with the UK while some countries later began detecting that the strain was already within their borders.
