"When we get everything in place and it works as we plan, we should be able to double the test capacity against what you have in Sweden today, we should be able to do 5000 tests a day for the whole country," says Lars Engstrand, professor of infection control and director of CTMR.

Knut and Alice Wallenberg's foundation has contributed SEK 90 million to buy and set up the lab for Covid-19 tests. In normal cases, the Center for Translational Microbiome Research CTMR looks for gut bacteria, but had the knowledge and parts of the equipment needed for mass testing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Quality controlled tests

After substandard corona tests were sold from China and sent back, the country's authorities have deprived several companies of export licenses the other day. But this equipment from the BGI / MGI research institute in Shenzhen contains test kits and robots of the same type used, for example, when mass-testing the population of Wuhan.

They have been quality checked against Karolinska Hospital's test equipment with good results according to Professor Lars Engström. Research colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet have also lent PCr machines that can copy the virus's genetic material in the lab.

Test sticks missing

The 200,000 test sticks used for nose / throat tests and ordered from China are still missing. They are expected within two weeks according to Lars Engstrand. Until they come, it will be difficult to double the test capacity. In addition, staff are required to take the samples (or to take them yourself), then put the stick in the test tube with liquid, kill the virus and send it to the lab.

Finally, the test answers must be sent out efficiently to people, without taking on too much care staff. Perhaps the same system for automated test responses used for chlamydia testing can be used, says Per Sikora, coordinator at the regional Genomic Medicine Sweden GMS center, Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

If no part of the chain is missing, testing cannot be doubled. The Public Health Authority has been tasked with the government to develop a national strategy to increase sampling for Covid-19 and collaborate with CTMR's lab and the country's clinical microbiology laboratories.

Enough a few weeks

"It helps to keep the fear away from doing something by rebuilding our lab that deals with gut bacteria in normal cases and helping during a disaster situation," says Marica Hamsten, lab manager at CTMR.

But Professor Lars Engstrand warns that now everyone wants test kits so it will be a challenge to get new deliveries from China in the future in fierce competition with other countries.

- We need more than this, it only takes a few weeks, according to Lars Engstrand.