Indian scientists have successfully isolated and cultivated the new “most infectious” strain of Covid-19, which had recently originated in Britain.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday that scientists from its National Institute of Virology had isolated and cultured the British variant of SARS-Cov-2 from clinical samples collected from passengers who had returned from Britain.
India successfully cultivates the newest viral strain on the horizon (British variant of SARS-CoV-2). # ICMRFIGHTSCOVID19 # IndiaFightsCOVID19 #CoronaUpdatesInIndia # COVID-19 # Unite2FightCorona @MoHFW_INDIA @PIB_India @DrHVoffice @drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @icmr_niv pic.twitter.com/vaCMQMSHOJ
– ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) January 2, 2021
He said that 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 epidemic in India.
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No country has yet reported successful isolation and cultivation of the UK variant, the ICMR said, adding that vero cell lines were used to grow the virus variant in the UK.
India has reported 29 cases of the new variant of the coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly through Britain and other countries, within five days of tracking its first such infection.
The new UK genome variant of SARS-CoV-2 – B.1.1.7, which is much more infectious, has led to extensive contact tracing for fellow travelers, family members and others who have traveled to the UK in the last 38 days.
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