Pack and ship suspected and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 patient specimens, cultures, or isolates as UN 3373 Biological Substance, Category B, in accordance with the current edition of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR), and the U.S. DOT Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR). It is the responsibility of the shipper to properly package hazardous material to help ensure safety during transport. The HMR outlines the requirements for how to pack and ship hazardous material, including Division 6.2 infectious materials, and can be found within 49 CFR Parts 171 – 180.
Personnel must be trained to pack and ship according to the regulations and in a manner that corresponds to their function-specific responsibilities, which at a minimum includes the general awareness for how to pack and ship UN3373 Category B, Biological Substance material, and may also include training for refrigerants such as the Class 9 Miscellaneous Dangerous Good, dry ice if laboratories will be shipping frozen samples requiring dry ice accompany the shipment.
When preparing a package for transport, always follow the exact instructions from the manufacturer for the packaging material used.
