Laboratory capacity and capability
ECDC aim to strengthen the capability and capacity of the EU public health microbiology system to provide the timely and reliable information that underpins infectious threat detection, assessment and surveillance at Member State and EU level for effective prevention and control of infectious diseases.
EU Laboratory Capability Monitoring System (EULabCap)
The primary goal of the EU laboratory Capability Monitoring System is to assess public health microbiology vulnerabilities, identifying priorities and monitoring the impact of capacity building activities and system reforms at national and EU level on essential public health functions provided by microbiology laboratories.
The tool combines 60 indicators (grouped in 12 targets each comprising 5 indicators) on three public health dimensions:
- Dimension 1 - primary diagnostic testing (targets1.1-1.4)
- Dimension 2 - national microbiology reference laboratory (NRL) services (targets 2.1-2.4)
- Dimension 3 - surveillance and epidemic response support (targets 3.1-3.4)
Aggregated indices have been calculated for each target and dimension as the average of component indicator scores, adjusting all index values on a scale of 0—10.
Contact us at: EU.LabCap@ecdc.europa.eu
EULabCap maps
Publications
Publication
Detection and characterisation capability and capacity for SARS-CoV-2 variants within the EU/EEA
ECDC has mapped the detection and characterisation capability and capacity for SARS-CoV-2 variants across the EU/EEA. This is the fifth laboratory capacity survey since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019.
Publication
ECDC rapid assessment of laboratory practices and needs related to COVID-19
This report assesses the current status of the EU/EEA and the UK COVID-19 laboratory response based on a short survey sent to all Member States and the UK.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis laboratory services in Europe
Peer-Reviewed Publication
V. Nikolayevskyy, Y. Holicka, D. van Soolingen, M. J. van der Werf, C. Ködmön, E. Surkova, D. Hillemann, R. Groenheit and D. Cirillo
Publication
EU Laboratory Capability Monitoring System (EULabCap), 2018
This fifth consecutive EULabCap report presents EU/EEA laboratory capabilities and capacities in 2018 and the trends of previous survey results over the period 2013–2018.
Publication
An overview of the rapid test situation for COVID-19 diagnosis in the EU/EEA
According to EU recommendations, timely and accurate COVID-19 laboratory testing is an essential part of the management of COVID-19 for slowing down the pandemic, supporting decisions on infection control strategies and patient management at healthcare facilities, and detecting asymptomatic cases that could spread the virus further if not isolated.