The UAE has successfully built the first laboratory in the world—outside China—that can conduct tens of thousands of real time COVID-19 tests per day and approved by the World Health Organization, US FDA and China.
Dr. Farida Al Hosani, the official spokesperson for the UAE health sector, highlighted this latest COVID-19 measure to address the need for population-scale detection and diagnosis of COVID-19, reported Emirates News Agency WAM.
The laboratory is capable of conducting tens of thousands of real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR, tests per day and is the first in the world of this scale to be operational outside of China.
Located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, it was built on a war footing and operationalized by G42 and BGI in only 14 days, providing an immediate solution to COVID-19 testing scale-up needs in the UAE.
This laboratory capacity will enable a rapid response to the current outbreak by accelerating the diagnosis, identification of suspected cases, the release of recovered patients, and the screening of close contacts and high-risk groups.
As part of the UAE’s drive to boost national solidarity in containing the coronavirus, Dr. Al Hosani also announced the formation of the Weqaya Field Team, which consists of volunteers from various nationalities, to conduct public awareness campaigns among members of diverse communities.
“Weqaya seeks to raise public awareness and avoid coronavirus infection in a simple way. Users will also have the opportunity to communicate with medical and health experts by sending in queries via the website,” she said.
A call center was also launched to provide information, guidelines and instructions in coordination with other health call centers through the toll-free contact 800-WEQAYA.
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“جي 42″ الإماراتية و”بي.جي.آي” العالمية تؤسسان مختبراً حديثاً بقدرات تشخيص فائقة لمكافحة “كوفيد-19”