In a 1st, NIV-Pune isolates, cultures Covid's UK variant

Pune's National Institute of Virology (NIV) has isolated and cultured the new UK variant of SARS-CoV2, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday underlining that no other country has so far reported isolation and culture of the latest UK strain. Isolation of the virus is the first step towards expediting development of drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic kits in the country.