Indian scientists have captured the first images of the SARS-CoV-2 otherwise known as coronavirus and covid 19 from the throat scab of the first patient affected in Pune on January 30th. The patient is a female medical student studying in Wuhan China and returned home after the outbreak began in early December. She was found to have been infected in a laboratory test

Images from patients in Kerala also show that the Sars-Cov-2 virus closely resembles the Mers-Cov virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in 2012, and the 2002 Sars-CoV virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus.

Dr Nirmal K Ganguly, former director-general, Indian Council of Medical Research talking to HT said "Coronavirus have a crown-like appearance and these spikes on the surface give this virus family its name, as corona means crown in Latin. They have evolved to recognize a variety of receptors, including protein receptors and sugar receptors, and enter cells by first recognizing a host-cell-surface receptor for viral attachment, and then fusing viral and host membranes for entry,”