New Analysis Instrument Will Vastly Increase Testing Capacity

A new, long-awaited analysis instrument for the Department of Microbiology at Landspítali National University Hospital arrived in Iceland last night, mbl.is reports. The instrument is among the most sophisticated and efficient ones for laboratory testing available worldwide.

It arrived on board an Antonov military transport aircraft, since an Icelandair cargo plane proved too small for this huge shipment, which will fill a whole room at the laboratory.

When taken into use, the instrument will revolutionize operations at the Department of Microbiology. “We’re in seventh heaven,” states Karl G. Kristinsson, senior physician at the department.

The instrument will be able to analyze more than 3,000 tests at the same time, meaning that the Department of Microbiology will no longer have to rely on the assistance of deCode Genetics, which has assisted the department with the analysis of coronavirus tests since the beginning of the pandemic.

The department’s maximum capacity for analyzing samples has so far been 2,000 a day.

British technical experts won’t be able to arrive until January to help install the new equipment, which has a price tag of ISK 100 million (USD 782,000; EUR 644,000). It will be useful in analyzing much more than coronavirus tests and make it possible to analyze all sorts of samples that so far have had to be sent abroad for analysis.