Facing the spread of COVID-19 in a growing number of countries across the world, it is critical that high throughput detection labs are built up in order to increase the efficiency of diagnosis. As of March 3rd, 2020, there are a total of 90,893 reported cases of COVID-19 globally, and 3,110 deaths, according to the WHO. In the past 24 hours, China reported 129 cases, the lowest number of cases for China since the 20th of January. Outside China, 1,848 cases were reported in 48 countries. 12 countries reported cases for the first time, and there are 21 countries with one case currently. WHO-Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report.

BGI has been actively engaged in the fight against the COVID-19. On January 14, BGI successfully developed a Real-Time Fluorescent RT-PCR kit for detecting 2019-nCoV (SARS-CoV-2), which can issue results in 3 hours. The kit was certified by National Medical Products Administration and received CE-IVD marking. The kit is already widely used in China, providing a scientific basis for diagnosis of suspected cases and the discharge of recovered patients.