First isolation and identification of SARS-CoV-2 in Guangdong Province, China

ABSTRACT

In January 2020, Guangdong Province, China imported several suspected cases with SARS-CoV-2 from Wuhan City, Hubei Province. China, which were detected as SARS-CoV-2 positive in laboratory. To further understand the SARS-CoV-2 virulence, as well as drug development and epidemic prevention and control needs, we established a SARS-CoV-2 isolation procedure. Vero-E6 cells were infected with the positive bronchoalveolar-lavage sample. The cells were monitored daily for cytopathic effects using light microscopy. The presence of viral nucleic acid in the supernatant was detected by RT-PCR. RNA extracted from culture supernatants were used as a template to clone and sequence the genome. We used Illumina sequencing to characterize the virus genome and results showed that the isolated virus was SARS-CoV-2.