24 February 2020
12613
2020-02-24 16:45
The National Health Laboratory (NHL) under the Ministry of Health and Sports has conducted independent lab tests on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) starting 20th February.
The NHL has been working hard to analyze the COVID-19 acute respiratory disease in Myanmar since it began spreading in China.
Deputy Director General, National Health Laboratory, Dr. Htay Htay Tin said “For laboratory tests, Myanmar has sent samples of persons under surveillance and being suspected for the signs of COVID-19 to the National Health Laboratory in Thailand. Since 26 February 2008, the National Health Laboratory (NHL) has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a national flu center and conducted tests on flu and respiratory viruses. The types of influenza and reparatory disease are the same. So, we can conduct the laboratory test of this disease.”
Official of the National Health Laboratory added that they have made systematic arrangements for safety of the staffs in testing the virus.
Deputy Director General, National Health Laboratory, Dr. Htay Htay Tin said “NHL has bio safety level 2 plus. We have arranged facilities that are appropriate with 2 plus level. We have to hold the samples in the glassware that is called biosafety cabinet. The lab staffs have to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in testing the virus. This virus test is different from other ordinary tests. We have to test the samples step by step as this type of virus is confused genetics and we examine with advanced molecular technology.”
NHL run lab tests on samples from patients for signs of COVID-19 together with WHO’s designated laboratory and they both have produced consistent results. It received the lab equipment from Thailand’s Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS) through WHO of Infectious Diseases (NIID), National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) and Juntendo University through the Japanese Embassy and JICA to test the virus in Myanmar.
MITV MOBILE APPS
