In June 2024, WHO has published the revised Laboratory biosecurity guidance. This focus of this Laboratory biosecurity guidance document is on biosecurity risk assessment, the strengthening of the review function of the institutional biosafety committees and the proposal of a two-tier system of national oversight.
This guidance follows the principles of the risk- and evidence-based approach for biosafety introduced in WHO’s Laboratory biosafety manual, fourth edition for laboratory biosecurity (LBM4). A biosecurity risk assessment template with an embedded high-consequence decision tree was developed to identify biosecurity risks, high-consequence research and high-consequence material and implementing biosecurity risk control measures to address the identified biosecurity risks.
The document provides tools and guidance to manage laboratory biosecurity risks and outlines best practices at the three vertical levels: laboratory, institution and national regulatory levels. It also outlines best practices at the horizontal level: for example, sample collection, transport, processing, storage and, if necessary, destruction in places such as diagnostic laboratories (fixed or mobile), research institutions, manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, among others.