CANBERRA/GUANGZHOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- While Australia takes pride in having "one of world's broadest testing regimes" in their battle against COVID-19, a Chinese company on the other side of the Pacific Ocean is behind its endeavor.
A total of 10 million COVID-19 test kits manufactured by Chinese company BGI Group, one of world's largest genomics companies, have been delivered to Australia. BGI also helps install 11 testing laboratories across the country so as to bolster its COVID-19 testing capacity.
According to Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt who once pointed out that testing was critical to the country's success in bringing the pandemic under control, the kits and equipment will allow Australian public health units to be able to test right through 2020.
"This will multiply our tests, between now and the end of the year, by almost 20 fold," he said.
Hunt told reporters on Thursday that the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia grew by 18 to 6,891 over a 24-hour period, and 6,023 patients have officially recovered while 97 have died.
The kits and equipment needed to carry out the tests were secured by the Minderoo Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by mining magnate Andrew Forrest.
Forrest said the procurement was not easy, as the Australian health minister asked "the Minderoo Foundation to supply an unprecedented level of both testing machines and reagents, which are incredibly rare right now."
"The minister advised we had weeks, not months, to prepare Australia's technical and medical defenses to biologic threats like COVID-19 in a national program that would normally take years. Minderoo undertook the task with extremely challenging conditions of sovereign competition in three weeks," he said.
He noted that there had been "sophisticated coercion" to interrupt the relationship with BGI, while offers from some other countries were higher than they had agreed, but the Chinese company "kept to their word and resisted that very clear temptation of a businessman to make a much bigger profit," he said.
Yang Bicheng, director of BGI Australia, told Xinhua that the company has made the Minderoo order a priority, overcoming many difficulties to accomplish the mission, especially when facing such a time-sensitive task.
Their daily production capacity for COVID-19 RT-PCR test kits is 2 million. "In spite of the strong demand for our test kits from all over the world, we did everything possible to fill the order from Australia as we considered it one of the most urgent requirements," she said.
Shipment is another challenge, as Australia closed its border to China after the COVID-19 outbreak, and the number of flights was reduced. Minderoo arranged chartered flights for the kits and equipment, and the Chinese experts applied for special visas to go to Australia.
To install all equipment in the laboratories is a pressing task. "To make sure that we deliver the equipment in a timely manner, our colleagues in China spent about 16 to 20 hours working on the project," said Yang. "Most days over the past month they worked till 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m."
She said that equipping one laboratory usually takes two weeks of time, but for this task, they must finish within days, amid unpredictable challenges.
One example was their biosafety cabinets, which were manufactured to the European standard rather than the Australian. "Therefore we had to give them up and urgently source local ones in Australia to make sure the laboratories can commence operation without delays," she said.
Despite the strained relationship between China and Australia, some ordinary Australian residents were happy to see the cooperation.
Yang showed Xinhua an email BGI received from a retired citizen in New South Wales. "Thank you for protecting the supply lines and the supply of the 'Twiggy (Andrew Forrest) tests,'" it reads. "Your honorable dealings with the Minderoo Foundation demonstrates the good faith relations nurtured between our two countries."
In fact, this is not the first time Minderoo purchased supplies from China to help fight the country's COVID-19 emergency. In early April the foundation procured more than 90 tonnes of critical medical supplies from China, including face masks, medical coveralls, medical goggles and ICU-grade ventilators.
Forrest, also founder of global leading iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group, said in a telephone interview with Xinhua that China has been generous and fair and acted as a true friend at the time of the pandemic.
Forrest first came to China 31 years ago. "Three decades is a long time to get to know a country and get to know a country's people," said the philanthropist. "People who I speak to all across China are concerned about helping Australia, and that makes me proud to be their friend."
After the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Fortescue Metals Group donated 1 million Australian dollars (about 600,000 U.S. dollars) in February to China's Wuhan to convert a local sports stadium into a 388-bed makeshift hospital.
On different occasions, Forrest has been calling on countries to work together.
He said that pandemics could start anywhere. "It's not important where the pandemic starts. It's very important how the pandemic is put to an end."
His view was echoed by Yang from BGI. "COVID-19 is a monumental challenge presented to all mankind," she said. "I believe people all over the world share the same vision and incentive to stem the pandemic." Enditem
