According to a statement, during the donation ceremony, the Minister of Health, Sílvia Lutucuta thanked the BGI Group for supporting Angola again "in the face of the new challenges brought about by the covid-19 variants".
The minister recalled that the Chinese group signed in July an agreement with the Angolan Government to install four laboratories, known as Huoyan ('Olho de Fogo'), capable of processing up to 6000 diagnostic tests of covid-19 per day.
The laboratories opened in the second half of 2020, with 18 Angolan technicians trained by the BGI Group, the group said in the statement.
During the ceremony, the Chinese Ambassador to Luanda, Gong Tao, said that China is willing to collaborate with Angola in the supply of vaccines against covid-19.
Angola was the first Portuguese-speaking country in Africa to receive vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer against covid-19 (624,000 doses), under the Covax, an initiative of the World Health Organization in partnership with the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
