China’s nucleic acid-testing mobile lab to empower global healthcare

17 / 01 / 2022

By Marwa Nassar - -

Models of BGI Genomics’ Huo-Yan Air Laboratory, a star nucleic acid-testing mobile lab product of the Chinese giant, were displayed at the China Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai during January 11-13 with an aim to empower global healthcare in the face of the coronavirus.

Compared with regular COVID-testing labs, Huo-Yan Air Labs are inflatable air film labs easier to construct in more sites within a short period and more convenient to transport and pack.

By showcasing the Huo-Yan Air Lab at the Expo 2020 Dubai, “BGI Genomics has an important opportunity to share our products with the world and bring China’s anti-pandemic technologies, experiences, and standards to the world to empower global healthcare,” said Chen Yue, global manager of medicine at BGI Genomics, at the company’s exhibition booth.

“This is the first time for me to witness such a nucleic acid testing lab, which can be built rapidly without much consideration of picking up suitable sites,” said Mohamed Osama, an Egyptian visitor, at BGI Genomics’ booth.

The mobile lab solved the insufficient testing capacity in the Middle East and made significant contributions to the pandemic prevention and control in the region, according to Osama who hoped that more countries around the world could get knowledge of the technology to jointly combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, BGI Genomics has comprehensively cooperated with the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia, and the Huo-Yan Lab in Saudi Arabia was awarded as the advanced entity for epidemic prevention and control by the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia.

BGI Genomics provided Saudi health authorities a whole set of coronavirus nucleic acid testing methods and a virus sequencing platform, helping the country establish a monitoring capability for COVID’s mutated strains.

Currently, the Huo-Yan Lab in Saudi Arabia can support 50 percent of nucleic acid testing demand in the country, and year to date, the lab has completed testing for more than 16 million people.

By June 2021, BGI Genomics has constructed more than 90 Huo-Yan Labs in over 30 countries and regions around the world, and the daily testing throughput of these labs reached one million in total.