This Sunday, the Government of Venezuela inaugurated two new molecular biology laboratories, in the capital region and the western region of the country, with the aim of increasing technical capacities for the diagnosis of the new coronavirus.
Thus was announced by the Minister of People’s Power for Science and Technology (Mincyt), Gabriela Jiménez, who reported that the first one of those is the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the National Medical Genetics Center “Dr. José Gregorio Hernández”, activated in the city of Guarenas.
This information is highlighted by the Ministry of People’s Power for Science and Technology, in a press release today.
The provision of specialized equipment and supplies was financed by the Mincyt, with Locti resources, in order to strengthen research capacities in public health.
For her part, Jiménez-Ramírez indicated that this laboratory, which is part of the National Network of Public Health and Epidemiological Surveillance, meets the best biosafety and technology conditions.
In this regard, the minister indicated: “It is a center for the analysis of PCR tests for coronavirus, which will have the participation of more than 20 specialists in genetics, cell biology and virology, from the Cuban Scientific Mission. An extraordinary work given within the framework of international cooperation and the principles of complementarity”, she stressed.
Diagnosis in the Venezuelan plains region:
In the Independencia municipality of Yaracuy state, was inaugurated the second space. It is the Félix Pifano Molecular Biology Laboratory. This center has a capacity to process 700 daily samples from Venezuelan patients.
In this sense, Dr. Lesbia Muro, general director of the Rafael Rangel National Institute of Hygiene, explained that, in its initial phase, samples from this plains region will be processed and, later, from the states Lara, Portuguesa, Cojedes and the border municipalities of the Carabobo and Falcón entities.
She also stressed that this molecular biology laboratory is made up of state-of-the-art equipment, bio-safety cabs, PCR cabs and a robot, acquired thanks to the agreement between China and Venezuela:
“Both laboratories respond to a policy of deconcentration of the coronavirus diagnosis, under the supervision of the National Institute of Hygiene, as a reference center before the WHO”, said Muro.
Network of biosafety platform.
With the inauguration of the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the National Center for Medical Genetics “Dr. José Gregorio Hernández”, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology “Félix Pifano”, Venezuela adds 5 technological spaces, specialized in biosafety for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.
The other units are the National Institute of Hygiene, in Caracas; the Mobile Laboratory of the INH, in Táchira state; and the Molecular Virology Laboratory of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC), in Miranda state.
