US Embassy: ‘we are gratified that more Georgians are learning about important work of Lugar Lab’
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The US Embassy to Georgia says it is happy to see more Georgians are learning about the important work of the Lugar Lab in Tbilisi, which was constructed with the funds allocated by the US government.
The Lugar center, which was constructed with US government funding and is owned and operated by the Georgian government, was established to identify and address disease outbreaks just like COVID-19,” the embassy said.
- Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab to be able to test for new coronavirus
- Lugar Lab using genetic sequence technology to identify source of coronavirus
The lab is frequently the target of Russian government propaganda, which claims that ‘alarming genetic research’ is being conducted in the centre.
Georgian health officials have many times dismissed the allegations, calling them ‘unimaginable falsehoods and slander.’
They have also invited Russian scientists to the country to see the lab and familiarise themselves with the activities of the lab. However, the invitations have been consistently dismissed.
The Lugar Lab, officially called the Center for Public Health Research, is located in Tbilisi and named after former American Senator Richard Lugar.
It became operational in 2013. The centre is part of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), under the Georgian Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs.
The construction of the centre was launched in 2004 based on agreements signed between Georgia and US in 1997 and 2002.
The Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab is capable of identifying the origin of certain cases of COVID-19 per its genetic sequence.
Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported earlier today that in addition to Tbilisi, the regional branches of the Lugar Laboratories located in Georgia’s black sea town of Batumi and Western city of Kutaisi will be able to diagnose the new China-born coronavirus – Covid-19.
The Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi will have a new test to diagnose the new China-born coronavirus 2019-nCOV starting February 4, said the head of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health Amiran Gamkrelidze.
Head of the National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) of Georgia Amiran Gamkrelidze says that recent allegations of the Russian media and state officials regarding illegal experiments at the Tbilisi-based, US-built Lugar Laboratory are “unimaginable falsehoods and slander.”
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent has thanked the Georgian Foreign Ministry for opposing Russia’s continued propaganda, ‘which was also echoed in China’, against the US-built Lugar Lab in Tbilisi, which is administered entirely by the Georgian government.
Russia has demanded access to all blocks and documentation of the US-built, Tbilisi Lugar Centre, and once again accused the lab of ‘conducting dangerous experiments’ following yesterday's repeat invitation from Tbilisi to receive Russian experts there. Russia says that they want the visit ‘without the presence of international organisations, in a bilateral format.’
The so-called security committee of Russian-occupied Tskhinvali reports a Georgian citizen who ‘illegally crossed the so-called border’ on July 3 was going to catch bats in Russian-controlled territory.
It is universally known that in 2008,Russia carried out open, large-scale military aggression against Georgia, containing which became possible as a result of the unwavering support of the international community, primarily the United States and the European Union.Here, at the UN headquarters, everyone is well aware that 20 percent of Georgia's integral territories—Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region—are occupied by Russia,” Gakharia said.