Adjustment to COVID-19 Era: Ongoing process at biobank at faculty of medicine, public health and nursing UGM (FKKMK UGM), Yogyakarta- Indonesia

Biobank at FKKMK UGM has just established for 2 years, when COVID-19 pandemic hit. Initially FKKMK UGM Biobank focused its service to non infectious related biosamples, due to limited infrastructure and expertise. On the first three months of COVID-19 pandemic, biobank was shut down. As the pandemic is expected to last longer, biobank must resume its operation. Adjustment is needed for this facility to enable it to cover service for ''potential infectious'' biosamples. To achieve the objective, based on current capacity, several activities are needed to be done, included : 1. Identification of potential needs and risks ;2. Preparation for capacity building ;3. System adjustment. These activities are planned to be finalized by mid 2021, while the faculty experiencing financial constriction. With the guidance frominstitutional biosafety team, by the end of 2020, Biobank FKKMK UGM determined that samples in virus-transfer medium (VTM) are prohibited, while alreadyprepared frozen COVID-19 related blood samples can be stored in biobank. We determine 3-layers packing system for biosamples entering biobank, and train our user to adhere. A home-made disinfecting chamber is in place to automatically clean the surface of outer biosample packing. Processing laboratory is disinfected regularly with ultraviolet light, and all technician wear adequate personal protection equipment (PPE) while working. Biosamples process is done in biosafety class II chamber, and biosamples are processed carefully to avoid vapour and spill-out. Despite the adjustment, adequate and formal training in handling this highly infectious biosamples is still needed. While SARS-CoV2 infection soaring, vaccination program among laboratory personnel becomes paramount. Collaboration between biobank and facility equipped with negative pressure processing laboratory needs to be initialized;however, at present, this facility is being used to support COVID-19 diagnostic laboratory in the campus.