Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory is developing diagnostic tests for the new coronavirus infection that has sickened at least 40 people worldwide and caused at least 20 deaths. <\/p>\n
The Winnipeg lab obtained a live sample of the novel coronavirus from Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on May 4. <\/p>\n
The virus strain is the human beta-coronavirus EMC (HCoV-EMC), a spokesperson for the agency said in an email. <\/p>\n
The lab's research priorities for the virus include: <\/p>\n
Doctors and researchers want to develop antibody tests to help with diagnosis. <\/p>\n
Provincial public health laboratories can also detect the coronavirus using diagnostic tests that the national lab produced using the genetic sequence data of the new virus. <\/p>\n
The virus first appeared last year in the Middle East and travellers have brought it to France, Britain and Germany. <\/p>\n
\"The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has informed WHO of an additional two laboratory-confirmed cases with infection of the novel coronavirus,\" the UN health agency said in a statement Wednesday. <\/p>\n
It is the first time that health-care workers have been confirmed with the infection from exposure to patients, Gregory Hartl, head of public relations and social media for WHO, said in an email. <\/p>\n
Hartl said he did not know what kind of health-care workers they were. <\/p>\n
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Read the original: Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory is developing diagnostic tests for the new coronavirus infection that has sickened at least 40 people worldwide and caused at least 20 deaths. The Winnipeg lab obtained a live sample of the novel coronavirus from Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on May 4. Continue reading
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