AID GENOMICS and BGI announced the launch of an emergency testing laboratory which will perform 3,000 coronavirus tests daily, for residents of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The lab will cost a few million dollars, and Mammoth Foundation and AID GROUP will lead the donation. Prospective donors may contact AID Genomics in Israel.
“The worst of times reveals the best in people, saving lives is of paramount importance,” said Dr. Ye YIN, the CEO of BGI. “We must work together to surmount whatever difficulty that lies ahead.”
BGI, as leading genomics company, brings the Huo-Yan lab solution from China. Mammoth Foundation, a charity in Shenzhen, China, also announced that it would join the donation and organize fundraising in China for the GAZA Lab operation.
The AID Group already supplied the State of Israel with hundreds of thousands of tests kits, developed by BGI, to detect the virus. BGI is the biggest DNA and Genomics company in the world. Today, AID announced this extraordinary initiative for the people of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, with the support of the authorities’ special approvals and the technology transfer from BGI.
According to Snir Zano, the CEO of AID GENOMICS: “In the past months we have been working with BGI in full speed to assist as much as we can. To my delight, as an Israeli, our proposal was approved by the Palestinian Authority and other relevant departments. We have then received calls from various parties around the world to show their supports. We are fortunate that Mammoth Foundation and Kelvin Wu’s family philanthropic arm, the i-Future Foundation, are the first to lead the donation.”
“The lab will be a Huo Yan lab solution and will be ready to perform up to 3,000 tests per day.”
According to Kelvin Wu, the Founder and Chairman of AID Group: “We are humbled to receive the support from BGI that derived from our two-year continuous R&D collaboration in cancer genomics. When it comes to illness, it is a common challenge to mankind. We are wholeheartedly committed to winning the fight against diseases.”
BGI was one of the first institutes to examine the virus that erupted in Wuhan. In light of the lack of test throughput, BGI built the first Huo Yan Laboratory in Wuhan within 5 days in Feb; and thereafter four more in other bigger cities.
Altogether, the Huo Yan Labs performed 500,000+ tests to detect coronavirus in China. This vast testing capability has enabled quick reaction time and rapid treatment for those found infected to the virus, even during the incubation period. Today, dozens of countries desire the construction of Huo Yan Labs. AID is in the process of bringing labs to Gaza and Israel ahead of elsewhere.