Researchers at the University of Bristol are growing several forms of the coronavirus in order to understand it better.
The scientists are growing the virus - including Covid-19, the strain linked to the recent outbreak - at their high containment laboratory.
By studying live forms of the virus, the team hopes it will gain a better understanding of how it spreads and how it causes sickness.
Scientist Dr Andrew Davidson said they are laying the groundwork for other researchers to develop a vaccine and test anti-viral treatments, ITV reports.
He told Good Morning Britain: "We’re finding out new information all of the time but we need to know more about the spread of the virus, how it causes sickness, we need to develop diagnostics, a vaccine is essential and anti-viral treatments.
"All of those things, we’re working towards."
The laboratory was reportedly one of the first in the UK to start working with live forms of the virus.
A Good Morning Britain reporter was given access to the site on Monday 9 March 2020. He said live samples of Covid-19 were removed prior to his visit because it was deemed “too hazardous”.
Dr David Matthews said: "We can see if it [coronavirus] is killing cells.
"We will extract the genetic material from those cells and find if it is mutating, is it changing, is it making things we didn’t predict?"
.jpg?w=600)
