Chinese tech to facilitate lab testing of coronavirus in Philippines

May 11 ------ Chinese novel coronavirus-testing technology will be applied in a laboratory at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in San Fernando Pampanga, Philippines, and is expected to improve the testing capacity of the country. A launch ceremony was held to mark the completion of the laboratory. Philippine officials and Chinese embassy delegates attended the ceremony. The attendees visited the laboratory after the ceremony. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the laboratory can test 3,000 to 4,000 virus samples, which will play a positive role in COVID-19 prevention and control in the country. "It's very significant because that is one of the objectives to increase testing capacity. So we will be able to detect early, identify people with COVID-19 early. And the earlier the identification, the quicker the interventions, the quicker we can isolate them, the quicker we can quarantine those who are exposed. So this is going to really improve our capacity to identify. It is a booster. It is a confidence-building measure. The cooperation has been super," said the secretary. Now there are over 20 qualified laboratories in the Philippines that can test around 5,000 samples every day. The Philippine government is attempting to improve the testing capacity so as to raise it to 30,000 samples every day by the end of May. The laboratory will certainly promote the realization of the goal. "Very impressed. We are very thankful to the Chinese government for allowing us to access this sort of technology. It's very important for us to really decontrol over what's happening in terms of controlling the pandemic," said Karlo Nograles, Cabinet Secretary of the Philippines. The laboratory was invested by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Ahmed M. Saeed, vice president of the bank, said that China is the best cooperation partner. The laboratory was constructed by China's BGI Group. Three Chinese scientific researchers reached the Philippines on April 22, and completed the construction of the laboratory and helped trained local personnel in three weeks. "We've been really amazed at the quality of cooperation. It turns out not only an excellent set of equipment and good price that is available. The company has gone out its way to provide people and support in training," said Saeed. "Local people have few chances to get access to the high-flux nucleic acid extraction equipment. So we not only installed and checked the devices, but also need to train the local workers. Besides, we should help them get authentication for the lab according to local rules," said Liu Chen, Chinese person-in-charge of the laboratory project. Karlo Nograles said the pandemic impacted the economy of the Philippines a lot with negative GDP growth in the first quarter. He said he hoped the laboratory would bring some support and confidence to the country to resume economy. As of 16:00 local time on Saturday, the cumulative confirmed cases in the Philippines has amounted to 10,610. There were 704 new deaths reported on the day. Source: gmanetwork.com