Ed. – Submitted by Irene Campbell
Coronavirus was successfully isolated in the National Security Laboratory of the National Public Health Center for the first time in Hungary, the National Chief Medical Officer announced in a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday of the operative strain responsible for coronavirus infection.
Cecilia Müller stressed that this would provide an opportunity to develop vaccines in Hungary and to test new antiviral therapies.
The pathogen has been isolated under the leadership of virologist Zoltán Kis, and the virus is made available to both domestic and foreign researchers in live and non-live versions.
Isolation also gives you a better understanding of how the virus works – he pointed out. He recalled that their researchers have extensive experience with the previous predecessors of the current virus. “They’ve started testing for an antiviral,” he said. “With all our strength and knowledge, we are at the disposal of the research team that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has set up today,” he said.
Answering a journalist’s question, he said, “when it comes to vaccination success, it’s hard for scientists to know that developing a new vaccine can often take a couple of years, but that is a huge step forward.”