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An initiative to strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics like COVID-19 has been launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The project, called ZODIAC, builds on the IAEA's experience in assisting countries in the use of nuclear and nuclear-derived techniques for the rapid detection of pathogens that cause transboundary animal diseases, including ones that spread to humans.

Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/IAEA-project-to-bolster-preparedness-for-pandemics

Aim is to give states access to nuclear or nuclear-derived techniques IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi. Image courtesy IAEA/D. Calma. The International Atomic Energy Agency is launching a project to establish a global network of diagnostic laboratories that can conduct monitoring, surveillance, early detection and control of emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases such as the Covid-19 coronavirus using nuclear or nuclear-derived techniques. 

The agency’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told a virtual board of governors meeting on Monday that the Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action (Zodiac) project will give member states access to equipment, technology packages, expertise, guidance and training.

The aim is to make the world better prepared for future outbreaks. Mr Grossi said Covid-19 had exposed problems related to virus detection capabilities in many countries, as well as a need for better communication between health institutions around the world.

Date: Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/iaea-launches-zodiac-project-to-establish-global-laboratory-network-6-1-2020

A ceremony was held today to mark the official opening of a state-of-the-art laboratory building, named after former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano, at the agency's Seibersdorf site outside Vienna, Austria. The new facility will increase the IAEA's capacity to assist countries in fighting and preventing transboundary animal and zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, and to tackle challenges related to climate change and food safety.

Date: Saturday, 06 June 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/IAEA-opens-Yukiya-Amano-Laboratories

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will provide diagnostic kits, equipment and training in nuclear-derived detection techniques to countries asking for assistance in tackling the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19. Fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have requested assistance with the diagnostic technique, known as Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). "The Agency takes pride in its ability to respond quickly to crises, as we did in the recent past with the Ebola, Zika and African Swine Fever viruses," IAEA Director General Mariano Grossi said in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors. "Contributing to international efforts to deal with the coronavirus will remain a priority for me as long as the outbreak persists."

Date: Wednesday, 11 March 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/IAEA-announces-support-for-COVID-19-effort