The NPHL lab was revived by the WHO representatives from March 13-21.

Good News!

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the ‘COVID-19 testing capacity’ of the Nepali National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) is authentic and adequate.

The review of the NPHL laboratories by the WHO representatives comes on the heels of the request of Dr Jonathan Ashcroft, Deputy Lead Microbiologist, UK Public Health Rapid Support Team.

The WHO team revived the NPHL from March 13 – 21, 2020 and found that it is well equipped to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak and the concerned NPHL team is highly skilled to conduct a molecular diagnosis of the coronavirus.

Moreover, the WHO said that the procedures followed by the NPHL are satisfactory and the results are accurately interpreted and reported.

However, Dr Jonathan advised the NPHL to establish additional COVID-19 testing facilities and upgrade the existing labs with the capacity to test for coronavirus.

He also recommended that the NPHL should be the sole provider of the COVID-19 diagnostic tests in Nepal in a bid to maintain consistency and quality.

So far, Nepal has reported only 2 coronavirus infection cases and the first case has already recovered.

However, the Nepali Government has been implementing stringent measures as the country lacks enough healthcare facilities to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

Live Updates on ‘Coronavirus’: