Inside the super-secure lab trying to stop the next global pandemic

The Spiez laboratory in Switzerland is the first super-secure facility commissioned by the World Health Organization to store deadly pathogens such as Covid for the purpose of fight against future epidemics

Spiez's ultra-secure laboratory holds some of the world's deadly pathogens (

Image: Reuters)

Hidden high in the Swiss Alps is a super secure facility, with the workers inside responsible for searching for deadly pathogens to prevent the next pandemic from breaking out.

The Spiez laboratory was commissioned last year by the World Health Organization to be the first to cultivate and store potentially deadly viruses to find out how to stop epidemics.

Known as the BioHub program, it was created following obstacles researchers faced when Covid broke while they waited for samples of the virus to arrive from China.

Instead, viruses will be ready and waiting to be explored by scientists in an effort to stop a future pandemic before it spreads.

Scientists from the Swiss laboratory in protective gear (

Picture:

by Reuters)

Isabel Hunger-Glaser, BioHub project manager at Spiez, said: "If we have another pandemic like the coronavirus, the goal would be for it to stay where it started.

"We realized it was a lot harder than we thought."

Inside, every precaution is taken to ensure that pathogens within its walls do not escape.

Scientists working with topics like the coronavirus wear protective suits, often with their own air supply, inside a tightly sealed containment unit.