The Indian Council of Medical Research on Saturday said that it has successfully isolated and cultured the new variant of the coronavirus i...
The Indian Council of Medical Research on Saturday said that it has successfully isolated and cultured the new variant of the coronavirus identified in the United Kingdom. The top medical body claimed that no other country has so far reported success in this area.
Culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.
“Vero cell lines were used by the scientists of ICMR and the National Institute of Virology to culture the UK-variant of the virus,” it said in a tweet. “UK variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees.”
So far, India has reported 29 cases of the new coronavirus variant, according to the data shared by the health ministry.
India successfully cultures the new viral strain on the horizon (UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2). #ICMRFIGHTSCOVID19 #IndiaFightsCOVID19 #CoronaUpdatesInIndia #COVID19 #Unite2FightCorona @MoHFW_INDIA @PIB_India @DrHVoffice @drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @icmr_niv pic.twitter.com/vaCMQMSHOJ
— ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) January 2, 2021
The new virus strain
The new UK virus variant, which scientists have named “VUI – 202012/01”, includes a genetic mutation in the “spike protein”, which could result in coronavirus spreading more easily between people. It was first announced by Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, on December 14, and was subsequently confirmed by Public Health England and the UK’s Covid-19 sequencing consortium. Screening...
