WHO: ‘Huge biological risk’ after Sudan fighters occupy laboratory

Geneva: The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that fighters in conflict-ravaged Sudan had occupied the national public laboratory holding samples of disease including polio and measles, creating an “extremely dangerous” situation.

Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO representative in Sudan, stated that fighters “kicked out all the technicians from the lab… which is completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base.”

He did not said which of the fighting parties had taken over the laboratory.

Abid claimed that he had received a call from the head of the national laboratory in Khartoum on Monday, a day before the official start of a 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals officially came into effect after 10 days of urban combat.

Pointing out that the laboratory contained so-called isolates, or samples, of a variety of deadly diseases, including cholera, measles, and polio, he said: “There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab.”

The lab director also warned Abid that “depleting stocks of blood bags risk spoiling due to a lack of power.”

“In addition to chemical hazards, bio-risk hazards are also very high due to a lack of functioning generators,” said the WHO Sudan representative.

Since it began 10 days ago, as per the UN health agency, there have been 14 confirmed attacks on healthcare, in which eight people have been killed and two injured.

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The fighting in Sudan has pitted forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Warhan against those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dago, who commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSP).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) stated on Tuesday that it had not been able to verify that number, but that the Sudanese health ministry had reported 459 deaths and 4,072 injuries.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency stated that it was anticipating 270,000 people fleeing Sudan into Chad and South Sudan, which are neighbors. According to the UN refugee agency’s representative in Chad, Laura Lo Castro, approximately 20,000 refugees have made their way to the country since the fighting began ten days ago.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link, she said the agency expected up to 100,000 in the worst-case scenario.

She stated to reporters that “the most likely scenario is 125,000 South Sudanese refugees returning to South Sudan” in the future. She also stated that the UNHCR anticipated that up to 45,000 Sudanese would migrate to South Sudan as refugees.