At this time, scientists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences are intensely preparing to test the samples for the presence of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. For this special situation, the Institute of Virology of the Biomedical Research Center of the SAS offered to redirect part of its researchers and equipment, which is routinely used in research, in order to increase the testing capacity at the Public Health Authority. At the moment, scientists are preparing to maximize their capacity options to achieve 500 tests per day.
“In this critical situation, we offer our experience and equipment to perform the same standard test recommended by the World Health Organization and which is used by most of the laboratories in Europe. We started taking specific action as soon as we accepted the offer from the state and we’re preparing to test from the next week,” said Boris Klempa from the Institute of Virology of the Biomedical Centre of the SAS.
The testing will be carried out exclusively in close coordination with the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Academy of Sciences asks the public not to start sending inexpertly obtained samples individually to the institution under any circumstances.
The Slovak Academy of Sciences is ready to help the state test the samples delivered to SAS from relevant state institutions, which do a professional sample collection. Any direct visit to the SAS or BMC SAS for this purpose is irrelevant and the collection will not be possible to do. Therefore, the SAS ask the citizens to follow the instructions of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic.