India successfully cultivates strain of British coronavirus: Top Body Medical ICMR

ICMR said no country has reported the isolation and cultivation of the UK coronavirus strain (Representation)

New Delhi:

India has successfully cultivated the new strain of coronavirus, which originated in the UK, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday.

In a tweet, ICMR claimed that no country has yet reported successful isolation and cultivation of the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, usually outside of their natural environment.

“The UK variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now isolated and successfully cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from clinical samples collected from returnees in the UK,” said the ICMR.

India is successfully cultivating the new virus strain on the horizon (UK variant of SARS-CoV-2). # ICMRFIGHTSCOVID19# IndiaFightsCOVID19#CoronaUpdatesInIndia# COVID-19[FEMALE[FEMININE# Unite2FightCorona@MoHFW_INDIA@PIB_India@DrHVoffice@drharshvardhan@AshwiniKChoubeyicmr_nivpic.twitter.com/vaCMQMSHOJ

– ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) January 2, 2021

The research body said vero cell lines were used by scientists at ICMR-NIV to cultivate the British variant of the virus.

The UK had recently announced that the newly identified strain of the virus found in its population was up to 70% more infectious.

A total of 29 people have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

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