COVID-19: Nagaland planning to set up 2 biosafety labs at the earliest

The Nagaland government is

planning to set up two biosafety laboratories at the earliest to overcome the problem of testing samples for COVID-19 outside the state, a senior official of the health and family welfare department said on Tuesday.

A very specialised research laboratory that deals with infectious agents is known as biosafety lab.

Any biosafety laboratory has to be approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the state government is in constant touch with it, he said.

Since it is the need of the hour, the department is rushing against time to do the needful for setting up the biosafety laboratories, secretary of the health and family welfare department Kesonyu Yhome told reporters.

 

Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) will have a level 3 bio-safety laboratory while Referral Hospital in Dimapur will have a level-2 laboratory,

Sample test for COVID-19 can be conducted in both the laboratories, he said.

Biosafety level 3 laboratories deal with agents that can cause serious infection, while level 2 covers laboratories that work with agents that pose a moderate health hazard.

Till now, samples for Covid-19 testing from Nagaland are sent to Guwahati and Dibrugarh in Assam, and Imphal in Manipur.

Yhome, who heads the state level committee for establishment of the facilities, said all security protocols are being met for setting up the laboratories and assembling of the required machinery is in progress.

The committee is working round the clock to make the laboratories eady within a few weeks, Yhome said.

On the availability of efficient manpower, principal secretary of the department Menukhol John said that experts have been identified and additional personnel would be trained for the purpose.

While the state has no positive coronavirus case so far, 61 samples were sent for testing out of which 48 samples were declared negative, and the result of 13 samples are awaited.

Principal director of the department Dr Suokhrie said that the samples are sent in sub-zero temperature, through a viral transport medium, for testing to ensure that the specimens reach the destination properly.