PH to get emergency assistance package from Austria-based IAEA

The Philippines is among a first batch of 42 countries across the world that will receive from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) equipment that use nuclear-derived technique for rapidly detecting the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The emergency assistance package is part of the Austria-based IAEA’s response to requests for support from around 90 member states in controlling the increase of COVID-19 infections worldwide.

This first batch of supplies, worth around 4 million euros, will help countries use the technique known as real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction or real-time RT-PCR—described as “the most sensitive technique for detecting viruses currently available.”

According to the IAEA, real-­time RT-PCR originally used radioactive isotope markers to detect genetic material from a virus in a sample. Through subsequent refining of the technique, the more common fluorescent markers are now used.

The IAEA said this initiative had gained strong support from several countries, which had announced “major funding contributions” to the effort.

In a list sent to the Inquirer, the IAEA said the Philippines was among 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that would receive the virus detection equipment. Other recipients in Southeast Asia are Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar.

Elsewhere, the first batch of equipment are being sent to 14 countries in Africa, 12 in Latin America, three in Europe and also Palestine.

Laboratories in recipient countries will get diagnostic machines and kits, reagents and consumables to speed up mass testing, a crucial step in containing the pandemic.

Also included in the package are biosafety supplies, such as personal protection equipment and laboratory cabinets for the safe analysis of collected samples.

The IAEA said more delive­ries would be made as more countries were expected to also seek help in the coming weeks.

“Providing this assistance to countries is an absolute priority for the [IAEA],” IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement. “I am very grateful to the governments of the United States, Canada, China, the Netherlands and Australia for their gene­rous contributions.”

The first batch of equipment will go to 14 member states in Africa (Burkina Faso, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Togo), 12 in Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People’s Democra­tic Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Phili­ppines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), three in Europe (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia), and to Palestine. INQ