New testing lab opens in HK to battle against virus outbreak

A new inflatable laboratory operated by KingMed Diagnostics Group officially started operation in Kowloon, Hong Kong special administrative region, on Friday, aiming to help fight against the COVID-19 outbreak in the SAR.

Yang Wanjun, vice-president of KingMed, said the facility can carry out 80,000 nucleic acid tests a day.

"The laboratory, which provides quick and high-quality testing, will mainly receive samples for testing from Hospital Authority, Department of Health, the city's international airport, multiple communities and more than 20 mobile sample collecting points in Hong Kong," Yang said.

"Also, it's ready to contribute to Hong Kong's citywide mass nucleic acid testing campaign expected to be launched starting March," he said.

For support, KingMed will send more personnel to Hong Kong at the invitation of the SAR government and go all out, with the power of science and technology, to help, said Yang.

The first batch of samples was sent to the laboratory for testing at 3 pm on Friday, he said.

The new facility, plus the two labs KingMed previously set up in Hong Kong, will ensure that KingMed can test more than 200,000 samples a day, said Yang.

KignMed, which was authorized by the SAR government to launch nucleic acid testing service starting July 2020, is the first third medical testing party to enter into Hong Kong.

Along with its local staff members from KingMed Hong Kong, KingMed, which has sent more than 150 employees to work in Hong Kong so far, will have more than 180 workers in the SAR.

In another development, Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co Ltd is working overtime to produce COVID-19 antigen detection reagents to ensure sufficient supplies to help Hong Kong fight the outbreak, according to a company statement released Friday.

The company, which has increased its production capacity of antigen detection reagent of COVID-19 five times, has provided more than 20 million COVID-19 antigen detection reagents to Hong Kong since February, it said.