In-house assembled protective devices in laboratory safety against SARS-nCoV-2 in clinical biochemistry laboratory of a COVID dedicated hospital

Dubey, A.; Bansal, A.; Sonkar, S. C.; Goswami, B.; Makwane, N.; Manchanda, V.; Koner, B. C.

Background: Health Care Workers (HCWs) of diagnostic laboratory handling COVID positive samples are at risk and need to take protective measures. Many protective materials were not available when the pandemic reached India forcing laboratory managers to take innovative measures to protect the laboratory staffs. Methods: We made face shields from OHP sheets and substitute of biosafety cabinets from cardboard boxes fitted with hypochlorite spraying devices. Here we present if these two in-house developed safety devices when incorporated in standard operating procedure (SOP) of laboratory safety were effective in clinical biochemistry laboratory of dedicated COVID hospitals. Results: We assessed contamination of laboratory surfaces (n=6) and rate of SARS-nCov-2 positivity from their nasal and throat swab by RT-PCR among laboratory personnel (n=18) after 14 days of their use along with other routine safety devices like use of gloves, surgical masks, OT gowns etc. These HCWs were checked regularly for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and none had any signs and symptoms during these 14days. The SARS-nCov-2 test report was negative for the staff members and no surface contamination was detected. We conclude that innovative and cost effective protective devices can be built in-house with locally available resources and are effective in preventing the spread of COVID 19 among the staff working in clinical biochemistry laboratories. Conclusions: Laboratory managers in resource scarce areas need to be innovative to face such sudden safety challenges like COVID-19 pandemic.