Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) is the highest level of biosafety
precautions, and is appropriate for work with agents that could easily
be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and cause severe to fatal
disease in humans for which there are no available vaccines or
treatments.

Dr Trump, the US's self-proclaimed expert on medicine, and inventor of
two possible cures for Covid-19, tells us that he has seen evidence
that the virus emanated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, one of
two BSL-4 facilities in China. Others, such as the US intelligence
services, say this is just an untrue conspiracy theory, but there
remains the possibility that the virus was under research in, and
escaped from the Wuhan BSL-4 lab.

The lab was built with French assistance, but they fell out over the
planned cooperation, and so the lab was not certified by the French
experts, who also were not seconded there as planned. The French
partner is in Lyon, and is one of three BSL-4 labs in France.

This got me wondering how many such labs there were around the world,
and how many we had in the UK. I discovered that quite a few countries
have them, but only three countries have more than three such labs:
obviously the US has the most, with 13, but the UK is second with
nine, and Germany third with four. Australia has three, all in
Victoria, but Brazil, Canada, Italy, Russia South Korea, South Africa,
Sweden and Taiwan only have one each.

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar. So London and the
surrounding area has more BSL-4 labs than any country in the world bar
the US! And the Northern Line alone has more than most countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level

In message , at 16:23:54 on
Mon, 4 May 2020, Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:23:54 on
Mon, 4 May 2020, Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.

I don't think so. They're research labs, not test tabs.

In message , at 20:50:31 on Mon, 4 May 2020,
Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:23:54 on
Mon, 4 May 2020, Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.

I don't think so. They're research labs, not test tabs.

Are any of your list at Colindale?
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 20:50:31 on Mon, 4 May 2020,
Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:23:54 on
Mon, 4 May 2020, Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.

I don't think so. They're research labs, not test tabs.

Are any of your list at Colindale?

Yes, and that one is Public Health England's Centre for Infections,
Department of Health laboratory. Diagnostics for various viral diseases.
Part of the European Network of Biosafety-Level-4 Laboratories

In message , at 09:16:54 on Tue, 5 May 2020,
Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.

I don't think so. They're research labs, not test tabs.

Are any of your list at Colindale?

Yes, and that one is Public Health England's Centre for Infections,
Department of Health laboratory. Diagnostics for various viral diseases.
Part of the European Network of Biosafety-Level-4 Laboratories

And it's only research, not testing?
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:16:54 on Tue, 5 May 2020,
Recliner remarked:

So where are the UK labs? I guessed that Porton Down would be
prominent, and it does indeed have two such labs, one military, one
civilian. More surprisingly, there are three conveniently located
BSL-4 labs along the Northern Line, and three more in Surrey. There's
also one just north of London, in Potters Bar.

I suspect the Northern Line ones mainly belong to Public Health England,
and are the ones which are now attracting some attention because the
NHS's plan for testing of notifiable diseases was over-centralised into
them.

Disclaimer: my one time next door neighbour was an epidemiologist
working in one of those facilities.

I don't think so. They're research labs, not test tabs.

Are any of your list at Colindale?

Yes, and that one is Public Health England's Centre for Infections,
Department of Health laboratory. Diagnostics for various viral diseases.
Part of the European Network of Biosafety-Level-4 Laboratories

And it's only research, not testing?

Yes, the BSL-4 lab won't be doing routine testing, but it's on a larger
site that might well do so. Most BSL-4 labs seem to be a small, very
specialised facility in a larger scientific campus. Sometimes, there's more
than one such lab in the same campus, specialising in different work (eg,
civilian and military).

I wouldn't call the Mill Hill site conveniently located on the Northern
Line. It's over a kilometre horizontal and a fair distance vertical from
Mill Hill East station. Is it even still there? I thought this was it..



... but other views show it demolished and replaced with hoardings
advertising new housing.

--
Basil Jet recently enjoyed listening to
Six By Seven - 2000 - The Closer You Get

Basil Jet wrote:

I wouldn't call the Mill Hill site conveniently located on the Northern
Line. It's over a kilometre horizontal and a fair distance vertical from
Mill Hill East station. Is it even still there? I thought this was it..



.. but other views show it demolished and replaced with hoardings
advertising new housing.


Yes, there's a note to say it was relocated to the Francis Crick Institute
next to St Pancras station.

In message , at 10:07:08 on Tue, 5 May 2020,
Recliner remarked:
Are any of your list at Colindale?

Yes, and that one is Public Health England's Centre for Infections,
Department of Health laboratory. Diagnostics for various viral diseases.
Part of the European Network of Biosafety-Level-4 Laboratories

And it's only research, not testing?

Yes, the BSL-4 lab won't be doing routine testing

How do you know that?
--
Roland Perry