Room 405
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
70 Whitehall
www.cabinet office.gov.uk
London, SW1A 2AS
Marc Horn
By email :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
FOI Reference: FOI2020/10121
18/08/2020
Dear Marc Horn
I refer to your request where you asked:
“Freedom of Information request - Ful , accurate and complete disclosure of SARS-
COV-2 virus isolation records
Dear Cabinet Office,
Please provide a ful , accurate and complete list of records held within your office, and
or under your authority, describing the isolation of a SARS-COV-2 virus, directly taken
from a symptomatic patient of COVID-19 where the sample was not first combined with
any other source of genetic material (not limited but by way of example monkey kidney
cel s, aka vero cel s, liver cancer cel s) thereby eliminating contamination as a possible
alternative source of sampling.
Please note isolation is used in the normal y understood meaning of the word – the act
of separating a thing from another. I am not referring, and hence not requesting, to
isolation meaning the culture of something else, the performance of an amplification test
(eg PCR test which only detect mRNA or DNA) or the sequencing of “something”.
If any records match the above description and are available to the public elsewhere,
please provide enough information so that I may identify and access each record with
certainty (i.e. title, author(s), date, journal, and weblink or location where the public may
access it).
I remind you ful , accurate and complete disclosure is required.”
I am writing to advise you that fol owing a search of our paper and electronic records, I
have established that the information you requested is not held by the Cabinet Office.
You may wish to try contacting Public Health England, who may be able to help you
with your request. at xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
With respect to your request we have been advised on the fol owing:
Coronavirus Disease, or Covid-19, is caused by a new virus cal ed SARS-CoV-2. Most
infectious diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi. Some bacteria or fungi
have the capacity to grow on their own in isolation, for example in colonies on a petri
dish. Viruses are different in that they are what we cal “obligate pathogens” – that is,
they cannot survive or reproduce without infecting a host. An explainer of these different
types of pathogen (disease causing agents) can be found from
BMC
Biology here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5648414/
For some diseases, it is possible to establish causation between a microorganism and a
disease by isolating the pathogen from a patient, growing it in pure culture and
reintroducing it to a healthy organism. These are known as “Koch’s postulates”, and
were developed in 1884. However, as our understanding of disease and different
disease-causing agents has advanced, these are no longer the method for determining
disease causation. It has long been known that viral diseases cannot be identified in this
way as viruses cannot be grown in ‘pure culture’. When a patient is tested for a viral
il ness, this is normal y done by looking for the presence of antigens, or viral genetic
code in a host with molecular biology techniques.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact the FOI Team quoting the
reference number above.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request or wish
to request an internal review, you should write to:
Eirian Walsh Atkins
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
email: xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
You should note that the Cabinet Office wil not normal y accept an application for
internal review if it is received more than two months after the date that the reply was
issued. If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. General y, the Commissioner
cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided
by Cabinet Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
FOI Team
Cabinet Office
