BRUSSELS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A batch of 1,000 test kits for the novel coronavirus has been donated to Biogazelle NV, a spin-off company of Ghent University in Belgium, by Chinese charity Mammoth Foundation, according to a press release issued on Friday by World Green Design Organization (WGDO).
The donated kits can issue results in three hours detecting the coronavirus, and enjoy technical support globally by its producer BGI, a world-leading genomics company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, which had produced a total of 4,720,000 tests by March 22, after announcing the development of its nucleic acid detection kit on Jan. 14.
The nucleic acid testing for coronavirus is essential for clinical diagnosis and containing further spreading of the epidemic.
Biogazelle NV, a contract research organization specialized in RNA analytics, said on Thursday that it has announced the initiation of large-scale testing of patient samples for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
"Biogazelle is providing one of the multiple testing sites in a government-led consortium of pharma, biotech, IT and academia," it said in a statement.
The non-profit Mammoth Foundation, based in China's Shenzhen, aims at promoting genome technology for public benefit. It has been helping Chinese hospitals to upgrade their testing laboratories, and recently started donating testing kits to countries affected by the outbreak, including Japan, Peru, Angola, the Philippines, Serbia and Brunei, contributing to the international efforts in fighting COVID-19.
This donation is coordinated by the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, the Ministry of Health of Belgium and the Brussels-based WGDO, a non-profit international organization dedicated to promoting the development of green design throughout the world.
As of Friday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Belgium has reached 16,770, with 1,422 new confirmed cases and 132 new deaths reported on the day.