Mission for COVID-19 Laboratory Diagnostics Support to Ecuador (19 November to 03 December 2020)

Source: Universidad Central del Ecuador

Following a request by the dean of the Central University of Ecuador (UCE), an RKI mission to Quito, Ecuador, was organized by the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG). The main purpose of the mission was to support the UCE and one of the public laboratories conducting COVID-19 diagnostics.

For this purpose, a two-week training in the Diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 was conducted from 19 November to 03 December 2020 by 2 laboratory experts from ZIG 4.

The location of the training was the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (INBIOMED), which is one of the public laboratories located in the northern part of Quito and serving a population of 300.000. As part of the mission, the team conducted theoretical and practical trainings in sample inactivation, nucleic acid extraction, PCR, and antibody detection using an ELISA technique.

The training sessions were divided into two groups of trainees. The first week of the training was aimed to a group of 8 technicians from INBIOMED and the National Public Health Research Institute (INSPI) that participate in the regular COVID-19 diagnostics activities. Given the advance skills of the group, the training concentrated on more detailed aspects of the work, troubleshooting, and analysis of results. During the second week, a second group consisting of 8 students in the areas of Medicine and Biology from the UCE participated in the trainings. This 4-day session focused on basic concepts and practice of the techniques as well as the correct use of pipettes and good laboratory practices.

Source: Universidad Central del Ecuador

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