[Explanation] Recently, the new coronavirus mutant strain Omi Keron has appeared on a global scale, causing concern.
On December 1, the University of Hong Kong announced that it had successfully isolated a strain of the new crown mutant virus Omi Kiron from clinical specimens.
[Commentary] Honglin Chen, a professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said that this is the first research team in Asia to successfully isolate and cultivate the Omi Keron strain, and the isolated strain will be used to develop and produce inactivated whole virus vaccines.
[Concurrent] Chen Honglin, Professor, Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong is saying that it will respond quickly in this area, and then will carry out some research work in various aspects, and is also negotiating with some vaccine production companies in the Mainland, saying that the use of these mutant strains can be used for some vaccine development. , Maybe the subsequent development of the response to this epidemic needs to be strengthened by using mutant strains as vaccines, so this is the work we have done so far, and then we hope to make a little contribution to the control of this epidemic.
[Commentary] Professor Yuan Guoyong of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong said that with the implementation of the epidemic prevention policy and the popularization of vaccines, the existing epidemic prevention measures are still effective. He urged the public to get the third dose of vaccine as soon as possible.
[Concurrent] Yuan Guoyong, Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong
The (anti-epidemic measures) we have taken are actually really good, so you can see that in the past five months, we have basically (achieved) clearing, so I think for the time being, our (anti-epidemic) method should It's effective.
In the future, if we want to have more protection against this variant virus, we will always have to get more (vaccine). For example, if you get Kexing vaccine, you may have to get a third shot. Help everyone get the vaccine against this new one. Viruses will even have better protection.
[Explanation] Chen Honglin emphasized that the isolation and cultivation of the virus strain are carried out in strict accordance with the operating specifications of the Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory of the University of Hong Kong. The research team is further isolating and cultivating the virus strain to obtain a larger amount of The strain was used in subsequent experiments.
The cultured virus will be used in animal models to evaluate its transmission, immune escape and pathogenicity.
[Concurrent] Chen Honglin, Professor, Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong
For the first step, I think what everyone (or) the whole world is doing is to know (the group) that has been vaccinated now, and how much protection he (vaccine) has against this mutant strain, so This should be something that everyone is doing (research), so we will do it at Hong Kong University, and then another step is to want to know, that is, whether its transmission power is really better than the original mutant strain, such as delta. There are other strains (strains) that are easier to spread, and is there any change in their pathogenicity?
These are what we will do in the following work.
Reporter Luo Siyu Fan Siyi reports from Hong Kong
Editor in charge: [Li Ji]