BEIJING: Automated equipment is playing a critical role in government efforts to carry out mass testing campaigns in a bid to pinpoint COVID-19 infections for isolation and treatment faster and more accurately.
The trend is exemplified by Huoyan Laboratory, which was put into operation on Saturday inside a local gymnasium in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, a recent coronavirus hot spot.
The negative pressure isolation labs are white, tent-like inflatable facilities, where tens of thousands of nucleic acid tests are carried out simultaneously by automated arms and other cutting-edge equipment.
The labs are operated by BGI Genomics, a private biotech company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which built the makeshift testing complex in about 20 hours.
The firm also deployed about 400 employees from across the nation to facilitate the testing drive.
Zhao Lijian, vice-president of the company and who now oversees the lab on the ground as the deputy commander, said the automated apparatuses help reduce human involvement, thus lowering the chance of infection and cutting the error rate.
“Traditionally, the task is performed by people, including taking samples out of test tubes,” he said.
“Human researchers would have difficulty extracting exactly 0.1 microliter.”
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
