As the world continues to grapple with the growing number ofcoronavirus-positive cases, scientists are trying their best to find a cure to stop thespread.
In the quest to find a cure is a team of Canadianresearchers, including an Indian-origin man, who have said they have isolated the virusbehind the global pandemic.
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According to ANI, isolationof the virus by researchers from Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital, the Universityof Toronto and McMaster University in Waterloo raised hopes for a cure forCOVID-19.
The researchers, including Indian-origin postdoctoralstudent Arinjay Banerjee, worked on samples taken from two patients. In asecure facility, they managed to isolate and propagate the virus, creating asource of COVID-19 for study as to how the virus behaves.
The isolation of the virus will help them to work onsolutions to the pandemic, the researchers said.
Arinjay Banerjee, who is a postdoctoral researcher atMcMaster University's Institute for Infectious Disease Research and specialisesin coronaviruses and in bats, said, "Now that we have isolated theSARS-CoV-2 virus, we can share this with other researchers and continue thisteamwork. The more viruses that are made available in this way, the more we canlearn, collaborate and share."
Highlighting the significance of their work, Banerjee said:"You can't validate anything without a virus."
Ecstatic about his contribution to the pathbreakingresearch, Banerjee said he always told his friends, "When I grow up, Iwant to be a guy who gets called in if there's an outbreak."
He added, "What's happening with the outbreak is sad,but I'm glad I can contribute to the process of understanding this andcontrolling this outbreak."
Fellow researcher Dr Samira Mubareka, who is amicrobiologist and infectious diseases physician at Sunnybrook Hospital saidtheir team now needs key tools to develop solutions to the Coronaviruspandemic.
"While the immediate response is crucial, longer-termsolutions come from essential research into this novel virus," she added.
Congratulating his co-researchers, Toronto Universitymicrobiologist Rob Kozak, said, "Researchers from these world-classinstitutions came together in a grassroots way to successfully isolate thevirus in just a few short weeks."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has quarantinedhimself as his wife Sophie tested positive for COVID-19. India too reported itsfirst death due to coronavirus on Thursday as the number of positive casessoared to 77, with authorities taking emergency measures to contain its spread.?
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