BEIJING — The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 18 said it has successfully isolated and cultured the novel coronavirus from the recent clusters of COVID-19 infections in Beijing.

On June 11 and 13, the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the CDC, received two batches of respiratory tract samples, collected from the COVID-19 cases related to Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale farm produce market. On June 15, cytopathy was seen in the cells inoculated with the virus, and results of nucleic acid tests showed rapid amplification of the virus, which signified the success of the isolated culture of the virus, according to the CDC.

The success is significant to the study on the sequence characterization of the circulating viral strain in the recent COVID-19 cases in Beijing, as well as the evaluation of vaccines and the selection of medicine concerning the epidemic, the CDC said.