By obtaining biological samples from clinical cases of novel coronavirus patients, the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and Southern University of Science and Technology have worked together and used cryo-electron microscopy to observe the morphology of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) after inactivation for the first time. 

The finding provides an essential ultra-micrographic basis for the identification and clinical research of COVID-19 and it was published at the influential distribution service of the biological field "BioRxiv" on March 5. 

The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and Southern University of Science and Technology have established a joint research team since the outbreak of COVID-19. They started to separate, cultivate and authenticate the virus and also conducted structural analysis and other systematic studies.

Based on the bio safety level III laboratory conditions of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, the team isolated the virus strain from the alveolar lavage fluid of a coronavirus patient on January 27. 

They finished the genome sequencing and identification quickly afterwards. 

According to domestic and international information retrieval, this is the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus. 

The researchers have observed the true morphology of the coronavirus under the cryo-electron microscope.  

Now the joint team is further researching the ultra structure of the novel coronavirus, characteristics of how the virus infects human host cells and clinical prognosis relationship of the novel coronavirus.