Russian scientists have managed to sequence the first complete genome of the coronavirus, the Russian Health Ministry confirmed on March 19.
"This coronavirus is new to us, so it is essential to have an opportunity to identify the path of its spread and entry into the territory of our country, and its mutations. This information will help develop vaccines and antiviral drugs to treat the coronavirus,” said Dmitry Lioznov, acting head of the Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, whose specialists decoded the genome.
Soon, this data will be sent to the World Health Organization database so that scientists from other countries can have access to it.
In the meantime, scientists from the VECTOR State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk have managed to take pictures of COVID-19 under a microscope. This is what the virus that has affected thousands of people on the planet looks like:
If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.
Subscribe
to our newsletter!
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox
