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ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) – Chen Songheng, general manager of BGI Ethiopia, a subsidiary company of China’s biotech giant BGI Genomics Co., Ltd., is optimistic about Ethiopia’s fight against COVID-19.
Chen runs the Chinese company’s first plant in Africa, a COVID-19 test kit factory located on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
“We have opened our first factory not only in Ethiopia but also throughout Africa. Now, the production capacity of COVID-19 test kits is about six million test kits per year,” Chen told Xinhua on Tuesday.
“We would like to provide localized production in Ethiopia that can also benefit all African countries. Our goal is to make artificial test kits affordable for all African countries to help them fight the COVID-19 pandemic,” Chen said.
Chen also applauded the Ethiopian government’s high-level support for the new COVID-19 test kit factory, which was shown with the inauguration of the factory by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on September 13.
“We appreciate the support of the Ethiopian government. With the Ethiopian government by our side, we feel great confidence in the fight against COVID-19,” Chen said.
With the COVID-19 test kit plant already receiving enthusiastic feedback from high-level Ethiopian government officials, Chen is confident that the initiative will diversify its commitments in the post-COVID-19 era.
“After the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, we will focus on the production of artificial test kits to provide products such as HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and dengue,” Chen told Xinhua.
BGI Ethiopia’s work is currently not limited to the production of COVID-19 test kits only, and the firm’s Ethiopian staff gain knowledge and experience through their employment.
One of those Ethiopian employees is Hussein Mohammed, a research and development engineer at the BGI Ethiopia plant. He said the East African country lacks sufficient medical expertise related to COVID-19, which the new factory will provide.
“We don’t have a lot of professional experience on COVID-19, so my long-term goal is to work with BGI Ethiopia and improve myself from what I am now,” Mohammed told Xinhua.
“As an Ethiopian, it is a great honor to work with BGI Ethiopia. Hopefully, it will give me a wonderful experience in the future and I will share my experience with other local employees,” said Mohammed.
Mohammed’s experience with China’s successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic extends to his time as a student in the city of Wuhan, where he witnessed first-hand China’s successful anti-COVID-19 efforts.
Mohammed returned to Ethiopia in June after two years of study in the city of Wuhan, of which the last six months coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19 in the city, as well as the successful control of the disease.
“The Chinese government played a great role in protecting us during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were providing us with free meals when we stayed indoors for more than six months,” Mohammed said.
BGI Ethiopia’s COVID-19 test kit factory, located within the Bole Lemi industrial park on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, is expected to help save much-needed foreign exchange that the Ethiopian government spends on importing test kits.
Importing the vast majority of COVID-19 test kits from abroad has also caused financial and logistical challenges to Ethiopia, which has so far confirmed 69,709 COVID-19 cases and 1,108 COVID-19-related deaths.
Speaking at the COVID-19 test kit factory opening event earlier this month, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said the factory inauguration came at a critical time in the country’s fight against the pandemic. “The start of production of COVID-19 test kits will boost the testing capacity of Ethiopia and other African countries,” said Ahmed.
“The factory will also provide commercial laboratory services for a total of three million transit passengers at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport,” the Ethiopian prime minister said. Final product
