NEW DELHI: For the first time, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune isolated and cultured the new British variant of SARS-CoV2, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday, stressing that no other country has so far reported now isolation. and cultivation of the latest UK strain.
“The UK variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from clinical specimens collected from UK returnees,” ICMR said. .
ICMR-NIV scientists used Vero cell lines to grow the British variant of the virus, he added.
Isolation of the virus is the first step to accelerate the development of drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic kits in the country.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was being tracked through the national network of ICMR laboratories since the early days of the pandemic in India.
India has reported at least 29 cases of the new coronavirus variants. While the new variant has higher transmissibility, it has prompted full contact tracing for fellow travelers, family members and others who have traveled to the UK in the last 38 days.
From November 25 to December 23, 2020, midnight, around 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports in the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states to RT-PCR tests to detect Covid-19.
In addition to India, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore have already reported the presence of the new strain of the mutant virus.
“The UK variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from clinical specimens collected from UK returnees,” ICMR said. .
ICMR-NIV scientists used Vero cell lines to grow the British variant of the virus, he added.
Isolation of the virus is the first step to accelerate the development of drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic kits in the country.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was being tracked through the national network of ICMR laboratories since the early days of the pandemic in India.
India has reported at least 29 cases of the new coronavirus variants. While the new variant has higher transmissibility, it has prompted full contact tracing for fellow travelers, family members and others who have traveled to the UK in the last 38 days.
From November 25 to December 23, 2020, midnight, around 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports in the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states to RT-PCR tests to detect Covid-19.
In addition to India, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore have already reported the presence of the new strain of the mutant virus.
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