What was done after the loss of the B814 strain of Coronavirus?

Department of Health and Social Care did not have the information requested.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

I am writing to request any information that is available regarding the loss of the B814 strain of coronavirus that the UK was researching during the 1960s which the strain was lost.

I am specifically wanting information on the following points:

1) How was the strain lost in the first place?

2) What steps following it's loss were taken to prevent infection amongst the general population?

3) If, as research at the time of the loss of the strain the virus was rendered inactive by ether - why isn't that something that is public knowledge?

4) When strains B814 and 229E were cultivated by British scientists - what steps when the strains were tested on human volunteers, to protect the rest of the population?

5) As per the above couple of points - why, when the strain B814 was lost, following the human volunteer trials with B814 and 229E have there subsequently been at least 4 traceable outbreaks of human coronavirus - SARS, MERS, COVID-2, COVID 19 that have caused epidemics and pandemics, plus there being 4 base strains of coronavirus - of which 229E is a known strand - you see why the above points have been raised? Before our scientists researched B814 and cultivated 229E there were no known human coronaviruses - then our scientists cultivate 2 strains, lose 1 and decades later we are in our current situation.

6) What happened to the human trial volunteers after their use as test subjects?

7) Where were the human volunteer tests carried out - where does the previous test location fit into the current lockdown situation - it would be interesting to know if the site is in a known coronavirus hotspot.

Any assistance you can provide in relation to these 7 points would be greatly appreciated,

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Hadfield

Department of Health and Social Care

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Department of Health and Social Care

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hadfield,

Please find attached the Department of Health and Social Care's response
to your recent FOI request (our ref: FOI-1258041). 

Yours sincerely,

 Jane Spencer 

Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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