The public laboratories of the National Public Health Agency cannot discover the new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. If necessary, samples will be transmitted to regional labs, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection has said.

The Agency’s specialists are trained to take samples in accordance with the international regulations. The Ministry, with the support of the World Health Organization, is in the process of procuring the equipment needed to diagnose the new strain of the virus, IPN reports.

By January 3, Moldova has got 145,873 infections with COVID-19. The death toll from the disease now stands at 3,037.

The new, very contagious strain of the coronavirus that was first detected in the UK was later identified also in other states in Europe, in the U.S., India and Latin America. The Romanian press reported that the new strain supposedly reached Romania too. It was reportedly detected in a man who was admitted to a hospital in Bucharest.