India has successfully cultured the new coronavirus strain, which originated in the UK, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday.
The UK had recently announced that the newly identified strain of the virus found in its population was up to 70 per cent more infectious.
India has successfully cultured the new coronavirus strain, which originated in the UK, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday.
In a tweet, the ICMR claimed that no other country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Culturing is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.
"UK-variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees," the ICMR said adding that vero cell lines were used in the process.
The UK had recently announced that the newly identified strain of the virus found in its population was up to 70 per cent more infectious.
A total of 29 people tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.