Ministry of Agriculture laboratories will be used to analyze Coronavirus tests

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) will make available the installed capacity, infrastructure and technical teams of the network of linked laboratories to help with the analysis of Coronavirus tests.

84 laboratories will be made available from the Embrapa networks, the Federal Agricultural Defense Laboratories (LFDAs) and the Executive Cocoa Farm Planning Commission (Ceplac), with 89 RT-PCR type equipment in operation and analysis capacity of more than 76 thousand samples per day. This is the reference technique for detecting Coronavirus.

The labs in Mapa's network are in 42 facilities located in 19 states and 27 cities. The equipment should be reallocated based on the strategic demand of the Ministry of Health.

There are also a total of 108 professionals qualified to operate equipment and tests, which can be allocated as needed.

“This strategy proposes an agribusiness alliance against Covid-19 under the curatorship of Mapa, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, which makes available in a quick and orderly manner a high quantity and quality of material, human and structural resources to reduce the evolution of Covid-XNUMX. prevalence of the Coronavirus in Brazil”, explains the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina.

Safety

Of the total number of laboratories, 62 have biosafety level NB1, which cannot handle biological material. In this case, the equipment can be loaned to other laboratories or they can receive samples ready for analysis.

Another 18 laboratories have NB2 biosafety level, which can be transferred to the health network to operate the tests.

Four laboratories have a maximum level of biosafety NB3, three of which are able to operate at level 4 of biological safety, using a diving suit, and two of them (Campinas-SP and Pedro Leopoldo-MG) have a robotic structure for preparing samples and carrying out the tests. They can be made available to support the health network in handling the virus or for activities that require maximum operator protection, and to create large-scale sample preparation centers.