An inside look into a COVID-19 testing lab in Bali

Mon, June 1, 2020 / 01:31 pm

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A laboratory worker prepares a box of reagents in the biomolecule laboratory of Warmadewa University in Denpasar, Bali. Reagents are chemical substances that can help detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in PCR samples. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A laboratory worker writes down the code numbers of swab samples sent by Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, Bali. JP/Agung Parameswara
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The laboratory is equipped with an emergency eyewash and safety shower station. The education and research laboratory was founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Warmadewa University and the Eijkman Institute. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A laboratory staff members holds a spray bottle containing alcohol and a set of tubes filled with swab samples in the laboratory’s extraction room. Only laboratory staff and expert scientists are allowed to handle the samples. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A glove is placed on the handle of a laboratory refrigerator that keeps the swab samples. JP/Agung Parameswara
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The reagents, as seen in the tubes, are necessary to isolate the indicators for the coronavirus ribonucleic acid (RNA) from human DNA in swab samples to determine whether the test subject has the virus or not. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A laboratory staff member works with reagents at the biomolecule laboratory of Warmadewa University in Denpasar, Bali. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A laboratory staff member hands out swab specimens that have been mixed with reagents to be analyzed in a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine. JP/Agung Parameswara
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A laboratory worker inserts swab specimens into the tray of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine. JP/Agung Parameswara
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The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine’s monitor shows the real-time analysis of samples. It takes two hours to get the final result. JP/Agung Parameswara
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Biomolecule scientist Erly Sintya (right) and a laboratory staff worker read the analysis generated from the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine. The test result is based on the cycle threshold value (Ct value) of each specimen. The sample is declared positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, if it has a Ct value below 40. JP/Agung Parameswara
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Biomolecule scientist Erly Sintya (right) and a laboratory staff worker read the analysis generated from the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine. The test result is based on the cycle threshold value (Ct value) of each specimen. The sample is declared positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, if it has a Ct value below 40. JP/Agung Parameswara

Agung Parameswara

Erly Sintya, a biomolecule scientist, closely examines the numbers and graphics of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results on a computer at the laboratory of Warmadewa University in Denpasar, Bali, on May 14.

Erly, accompanied by a laboratory staff member, records the PCR test results of 38 samples gathered from Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar.

“It is quite nerve-racking to read the test results. We’re worried [about working with test samples] but we try to work hard and be professional,” says Erly, who is also the lab’s analysis coordinator.

“Working in the laboratory to test for the virus is quite risky, but we have applied all the necessary procedures to minimize the risks.”

Warmadewa University rector I Dewa Putu Widjana said the biomolecule laboratory had intensified its PCR testing to support the island’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to laboratory head Eka Kartika Sari, the entire process takes five hours, from extracting the sample to getting the result. The laboratory can process up to 80 samples a day. [yps]