Hadassah Medical Organization is increasing the number of laboratory Coronavirus tests it conducts, after the country’s central laboratory had to close its doors, when its deputy director was infected.

The Health Ministry reached out to Clinical Virology Head Prof. Dana Wolf to help. The central lab was conducting 480 tests each day. The Hadassah lab is working round the clock, with doctoral students volunteering their time.

This morning a new robot was introduced to help speed up testing. Research laboratories have given Hadassah thermal cyclers, also known as PCR machines, to amplify segments of DNA. The hospital and Hebrew University teamed up to build a new isolated compound to deal with the biological material for processing and neutralizing.

Picture: Prof. Dana Wolf