British company hVivo Services Ltd. artificially grown in a laboratory a batch of a delta strain of coronavirus infection for use in a study that involves deliberate infection of volunteers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, experts are growing the delta strain of COVID-19 in a protected laboratory “under close supervision.” An initial sample of the virus was taken from an infected person. The chief scientist of the company, Andrew Catchpole, said that today there is already enough volume for the first stages of research using the virus.
The use of the cultured delta strain will be overseen by Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust, a London-based charity. The research is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the UK government.
A senior source at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told the WSJ that the US government is also funding work to grow viruses in a laboratory, but they will not be used to infect people there.
The UK is the only country in the world where research is being carried out with the intentional infection of volunteers with coronavirus. Volunteers accept young and healthy people who are placed in isolation under medical supervision. The tests are carried out with the participation of the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. Over 40 volunteers have already been infected with the “original” strain.
