To serve country and people in the COVID-19 crisis, the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) is responding to current developments with concrete measures. From October on, the LNS team is conducting tests in the former building of the National Library at the Kirchberg, and on All Saints’ Day COVID-19 tests were offered in the LNS building. In a next step, a drive-in test centre has been available since Thursday 5 November on the LNS site in Dudelange.

On 1 November, 469 swabs were taken at the LNS. As for the test centre at the Kirchberg, which operated in cooperation with the Direction de la Santé, 2.453 tests were taken between 19 and 26 October, 302 of them coming out positive. Since its transformation into the Centre de Consultation Covid (CCC) on 26 October, the LNS has continued to run a test station there.

Experience and specific training ensure the highest level of safety

To permanently ensure excellence and professionalism despite the difficult current situation, the LNS uses the full potential of its expert team and its infrastructure. In view of the forecast for the coming weeks and months, one aim is to provide the population with reliable testing with as little waiting time as possible. To this end, the LNS has once again expanded its team, as Dr Trung Ngyen, in charge of the Virology & Serelogy Unit, explains: “With regard to our manpower, we started preparing for the current situation early on. This has enabled us to attract the specialist staff we need, and we are also continuing to recruit experts.”

All employees undergo specific training before they begin their work, says Dr. Tamir Abdelrahman, Head of the Microbiology Department: “We have been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 since the spring and have gained a lot of valuable experience since then. We want to pass this on to our new employees, with the aim of building up a team which, given its size and competence, can handle difficult situations safely.”

Thomas Wegner, in charge of the Infrastructure & Logistics Service adds: “Safety is key throughout the entire process. On site, we provide our teams of doctors and technicians with protective clothing. For the transport of the samples to the laboratory we can rely on experienced drivers. And in the laboratory, our cleaning services ensure the highest level of sanitary conditions.”

Meeting the LNS’s role as a supporting pillar of the healthcare system

With the test centre at the Kirchberg and the various activities in Dudelange, the LNS is once again underlining its role as a supporting pillar of the Luxembourg health system, explains Director Prof. Dr. Friedrich Mühlschlegel: “We see it as our mission to put the multifaceted expertise of our team at the service of the people in Luxembourg and the Greater Region. In doing so, we can build on complementary and straightforward cooperation at all levels with partners who share the same goal as we do, namely an excellent health system that is accessible to all.”