Chinese giant helping Ethiopians fight pandemic

ADDIS ABABA－BGI Health Ethiopia, a subsidiary of Chinese biotech giant BGI Genomics, has won acclaim for its technology and knowledge transfers to propel Ethiopia's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inside the premises of Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, BGI Health Ethiopia administers the inflatable and portable Huo-Yan Air Lab.

Eyuel Fikru, one of the Ethiopian health experts working as the local team coordinator at Huo-Yan Air Lab, said the company has introduced the latest technologies and equipment to conduct COVID-19 testing, and has shared knowledge of modern COVID-19 testing technology with local health professionals.

"The equipment and the steps that we are following are really new and special. It is somehow a good way of capacity building and transfer of knowledge to the local health experts," said Fikru in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency.

The laboratory conducts up to 1,000 COVID-19 tests per day using a rapid detection and diagnosis technology that obtains the results three hours before passengers get on board to travel to China and other parts of the world.

"The test is reliable, specific and sensitive," said Fikru, emphasizing that the laboratory plays a significant role in helping Ethiopian airlines achieve infection-free flights and in helping the East African nation fight the pandemic.

"Working with Chinese colleagues and the BGI as a whole is a good opportunity for Ethiopian medical practitioners since we are gaining a lot of knowledge, especially on the machines and instruments in addition to developing good work ethics."

Appreciating the sampling techniques, timing and high-quality working instruments at Huo-Yan Air Lab, Fikru said the technology transfer is paying off to expand similar services across the country.

"After joining BGI, I have come across sophisticated, newly emerging sample collections and have become familiar with advanced technology including qPCR machines that can test 96 samples at one cycle," he added.

On top of producing reliable COVID-19 test results, the laboratory helps the airlines process flights without any worry of infections onboard and flight interruptions.

Kominist Asmamaw, another health expert, works as a biological laboratory engineer at the state-of-the-art lab.

"Working with Chinese colleagues has helped me gain good experience, set up programs for all the COVID-19 testing machines and operate them independently," Asmamaw said.

"This lab is one of the most well-equipped laboratories in Ethiopia. I have never seen this kind of laboratory, which is equipped with state-of-the-art automatic machines."

BGI Health Ethiopia Administration Director Saron Tamirat said the Huo-Yan Air Lab has been producing accurate and precise COVID-19 test results for passengers traveling to China.

Xinhua