In response to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the south of Sweden, researchers from Lund Stem Cell Center have been working at Lund University Hospital over the holiday period and into the new year, supporting Region Skåne.

Johanna Tingvall-Gustafsson, a PhD student from the Molecular Lymphopoiesis research group, is one such volunteer who has been performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 tests on samples from patients at the emergency room.

“I have been carrying out the new ‘fast’ PCR test, with results in only twenty five minutes,” explains Johanna. “This is a great improvement on the old test which took closer to two hours to run, meaning that patients had to be isolated for long periods of time before being transferred into the hospital for treatment.”

“We try to run the tests twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and I have been working shifts running from 22.30 until 8.00 the next morning,” continues Johanna. “I usually stay up quite late at night anyway, so these shifts are perfect for me.”

“It feels good to be able to help in some meaningful way during these tough times,” concludes Johanna. “We were lucky enough to have enough volunteers to cover the holiday period, but with the start of the new year a lot of people have gone back to their normal jobs, so now we really need more people to help out.”

Do you want to help?

Region Skåne needs help strengthening the care system during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you are you a trained doctor, nurse, assistant nurse, student in the care professions or can you think of helping in another way, please get in touch, you can make a difference!

Please note. Volunteers must be able to speak fluent Swedish.

Find out more here:
https://www.skane.se/Halsa-och-vard/hitta-vard/covid-19-coronavirus/vil…