Gaza Strip to get laboratory for coronavirus testing
Israeli and Chinese genomics companies plan to provide a COVID-19 testing lab for the Gaza Strip, but in the meantime, there are no test kits to be had there.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip has run out of coronavirus test kits but will soon have a new laboratory capable of conducting as many as 3,000 tests a day.
Gaza Health Ministry Undersecretary Youssef Abu al-Rish said the 300-square-meter (3,229-square-foot) lab is expected to be assembled and equipped by April 16. The lab will be a joint effort of Beijing Genomics Institute and Israel's AID Genomics.
Ayman al-Halabi, labs department director at the Gaza Health Ministry, spoke with Al-Monitor, stressing the need for this laboratory, particularly since the ministry’s main lab in Gaza ran out of testing kits April 8. Since early 2020, the World Health Organization had supplied the Gaza Strip with 192 kits, with each pack able to perform 96 tests, including one kit from the Health Ministry in the West Bank, he said.
“The Gaza Strip ran out of kits, as 1,984 tests were performed on citizens placed in quarantine April 5-6. These citizens started returning home after testing negative and spending 21 days in the quarantine centers,” he added.
