Laboratory biosafety guidance related to coronavirus disease (‎‎‎COVID-19)‎‎‎: interim guidance, 28 January 2021

The purpose of this document is to provide interim guidance on laboratory biosafety related to the testing of clinical specimens of patients.

In this updated version of the Laboratory biosafety guidance related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the following topics were added: biosafety aspects for working with antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests, handling new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory, updated assay decontamination before disposal, personal protective equipment (PPE) for specimen collection and, even though not directly a biosafety issue, this version of the guidance addresses chemical hazards and their safe disposal.