China set up an inflatable biosafety laboratory Huoyan (Fire Eye in English) on Thursday night in the space of 10 hours for emergency COVID-19 testing in Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong Province.

The lab has a testing capacity of 150,000 samples per day, the highest in the country. it uses the 10 in 1 testing method, which means every batch of ten samples are tested together, and those showing positive will be re-tested one by one, expediting the testing process – the testing capability can increase to 1.5 million samples per day.

The lab consists of 15 inflatable air bubbles equipped with automatic instruments to conduct nucleic acid testing day and night nonstop.

The infrastructure is a P2-level lab for COVID-19 with single-pass air-flow and made of PVC, which is flame-retardant, durable, and stable.

The balloon structure, which seals well and can be easily transported and set up, is good for emergency use.

Over 30 countries and regions have launched or constructed Huoyan labs to battle the COVID-19 virus, including Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Serbia, Ethiopia, Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Kazakhstan.

Guangdong registered 11 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and three new locally transmitted asymptomatic cases on Friday, said the provincial health commission.

Read more: The inflatable biosafety laboratory Huoyan