The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has succeeded in separating viruses from patients with new coronavirus infections today.

The Centers for Disease Control explained that the incubation of patient respiratory specimens (such as phlegm) was inoculated and cultured to confirm the growth of the new coronavirus, and the virus gene sequence was analyzed to demonstrate the isolation of the new coronavirus.

The Korean isolate of the new coronavirus was named 'BetaCoV / Korea / KCDC03 / 2020'.
According to the virus genetic information published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, isolated viruses matched sequences (99.5 ~ 99.9%) with viruses isolated from China (Wuhan, Guangdong), France, Singapore and Germany.

No significant genetic variation was found.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to release genetic information of the newly isolated virus to share with the scientific community to develop new corona vaccines and treatments.

The nucleotide sequence information of new isolates of new coronaviruses is registered in the GISAID of the World Health Organization (WHO) and can be used by researchers at home and abroad.

GISAID is WHO's World Influenza Surveillance Network, which has registered the new coronavirus gene sequences in various countries.

Jeong Eun-kyung, head of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, “We will distribute the isolated virus to relevant ministries and relevant organizations to be used for research and development as an indispensable resource for the development of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.”

(Photo: Provided by the Centers for Disease Control, Yonhap News)