Public Accountability Unit
T 020 8327 6920
Wellington House
133-155 Waterloo Road
London SE1 8UG
www.gov.uk/phe
By email
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx Our ref: 02/02/kl/2668
25 February 2021
Dear Lee Edwardes,
Re: Freedom of Information request - Proof of isolation of COVID-19
Thank you for your request received on 2 February 2021 addressed to Public Health
England (PHE). In accordance with Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (the Act), I can confirm that PHE partially holds the information you have
specified.
I will answer your questions in the order raised.
1) Please provide me data and evidence that isolation of this virus ( COVID-19)
has taken place, to be able to determine it as a deadly virus, or even A
virus.
PHE’s microbiology teams use the term “isolation” to mean culture in the laboratory.
It is used sometimes interchangeably to mean isolation from a patient or clinical
material – but usually implies that the organism has been grown in culture. An
organism is identified by looking for its unique genetic material in a clinical sample
and further identification is refined and confirmed by whole genome sequencing.
The Virus Reference Laboratory at PHE, Colindale, London, has grown the virus,
SARS-CoV-2. The virus culture method has been published in the following paper:
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-
7917.ES.2020.25.32.2001483
PHE’s culture work on other SARS-CoV-2 variants is in progress and has not
published in any peer-reviewed papers at present.
2) Either through Kochs Postulates or new scientific procedure that can 100%
determine via taking the removed sputum of a dead person determined to
have covid 19 and putting it into a healthy person, or any data that you hold
that can 100% determine the existance of this virus (covid -19/SARS COV2)
or ANY variant of it.
PHE can confirm that it does not hold the requested information as specified in your
request.
Under section 16, a public authority has a duty to provide advice and assistance.
Accordingly, you may be interested in the following paper which shows how SARS-
CoV-2 fulfils Koch’s postulates. You can access this at:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2312-y
Furthermore, you may be interested in the technical briefing documents on the novel
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For your convenience, I have included the below
link to technical briefing 6 ‘Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in
England’ and previous briefings and accompanying data:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attach
ment_data/file/961299/Variants_of_Concern_VOC_Technical_Briefing_6_England-
1.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-cov-2-
variant-variant-of-concern-20201201
If you have any queries regarding the information that has been supplied to you,
please refer your query to me in writing in the first instance. If you remain dissatisfied
and would like to request an internal review, then please contact us at the address
above or by emaili
ng xxx@xxx.xxx.xx. Please note that you have the right to an independent review by the Information
Commissioner’s Office if a complaint cannot be resolved through the PHE
complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted by
calling the ICO’s helpline on 0303 123 1113, visiting the ICO’s website at
www.ico.org.uk or writing to the ICO at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
FOI Team
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