Kathmandu, May 10 -- The National Public Laboratory (NPHL) has set up a high-containment unit, a facility designed to prevent the risk of highly contagious viruses spilling over into communities.

The new high-containment unit has laboratory facilities that help in neutralising highly infectious viruses such as SARS-COV-2, Ebola, MERS, Nipah, and Marburg, among others, according to officials at the laboratory, also known as the central lab.

The unit will also support research in various areas like pathology, immunology, and microbiology.

"Now we can neutralise highly infectious diseases in our own lab," said Dr Ranjan Raj Bhatta, director at the laboratory. "Samples of viruses need to be neutralised before sending them for testing abroa...