The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responding to the need for diagnostic and laboratory equipment required to help combat the COVID-19 epidemic by sending emergency supplies to 90 member states. The emergency assistance will also include personal protection equipment and laboratory cabinets for the safe analysis of collected samples. Further deliveries of equipment to the growing number of countries seeking assistance are expected in the coming weeks.

Real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) kits to detect the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 are being dispatched to recipient states. The method originally used radioactive isotope markers to detect targeted genetic materials, but subsequent refining has replaced isotopic labelling with special markers, most frequently fluorescent dyes.

The highly sensitive technique can deliver a reliable diagnosis in three hours, significantly faster than other available virus isolation assays. Real-time RT-PCR also has a lower potential for contamination or errors as the entire process can be conducted within a closed tube.

In collaboration with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the agency has also provided guidance on coronavirus detection to 124 laboratory professionals in 46 member nations through VETLAB, a network of veterinary laboratories in Africa and Asia established to combat the cattle disease rinderpest. The VETLAB initiative helps participating countries improve the early detection of transboundary animal and zoonotic diseases, such as Ebola and COVID-19.