Covid first wave Australian isolate. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM). Here seen budding (orange dots) from a Caco-2 human gut epithelial cell. The first isolation and sequencing of the full- length SARS-Cov2 outside of China was achieved in Australia from the nasopharyngeal swab of a 58year old man from Wuhan who was admitted to a medical centre in Melbourne with fever cough and progressive dyspnoea. Within 24 hrs of isolation, this first Australian SARS-Cov2 isolate was shared with many laboratories and reference centres in the world when validation of diagnostic assays and genome analysis were at vital demand. Australia subsequently experienced the toughest lockdown in the world, pursuing s geographical isolation and significantly containing the spread of the virus until late in 2021. Magnification: x18000 when printed at 10cm wide. Specimen courtesy of Greg Towers, UCL.