A mobile, inflatable laboratory for COVID-19 tests is put into use Tuesday at a sports center in Daxing District in Beijing. /CCTV
The first inflatable and portable laboratory equipped with a medical waste exhaust system and nucleic acid detection technology for COVID-19 has been put into operation in Beijing on Tuesday, after the city reported over 250 local infections since June 11.
The transportable facility is intended to ramp up virus testing and screening to 30,000 samples per day, according to Wang Youguo, a government official in Daxing District, which currently has 19 percent of the infections.
A look to the inside lab /CCTV
Built in just three days, the lab features nine separate areas for the various steps in sample collection and analysis, as well as a bathroom and ventilation system that prevent contamination.
These separate modules can be easily transported and set up under a low cost. Several days ago, China donated a model of the lab to the National Kapodistrian University of Athens' Microbiology Lab in Greece to help the country improve their overall detection flux.
Special cabins for healthcare workers
Beijing has launched a citywide campaign to locate and test individuals who visited the Xinfadi wholesale market, the place most of the city's confirmed cases are related to, since May 30.
To provide a better environment for healthcare workers who are conducting tests for citizens under the scorching summer temperatures, special cabins have also been put into use in some of the testing centers.
Shaped like a container, each cabin is equipped with air conditioning and a central ventilation system. Inside the cabin, medical workers can collect samples without wearing protective suits.
"What we want is to make these healthcare workers feel better," said Liang Jinning, a person in charge of the cabin.
With the assistance of the central ventilation system, a positive pressure environment can be formed inside the cabin, which prevents outside air from entering and ensuring a clean environment inside.
Healthcare workers conduct nucleic acid tests for a little girl. /CGTN
Beijing conducted nucleic acid tests on more than 2.34 million people from June 12 to 21, the municipal health authorities said on Tuesday.
More than 7,400 personnel from hospitals, community health service centers and private testing companies, have been assigned to do tests for people.
At a regular briefing on Wednesday, Xu Hejian, one of the local officials of the municipal government, told the media that the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing has basically been brought under control.
But the situation remains grim and complex as family and community clusters have emerged, added Xu, noting that Beijing still needs to improve the testing efficiency and expand the coverage to groups with high exposure to the virus, including catering and delivery services workers and patients living in areas with medium- and high-risk level of infections.