MGI, a global life-science technology innovator, lends a hand to resource-restrained African countries in response to the surge of local COVID-19 cases.

New COVID-19 variants have emerged in Africa causing growing concerns globally. In a recent study published in Nature, the scientists expressed fear that these new variants show less effects to the current vaccines, and reinfections may be more likely. The study also found that the South Africa variant has shown increasing resistance to certain monoclonal antibodies currently been used to treat COVID-19 patients.

MGI recently supplied Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), the nation's foremost medical research institute, a DNBSEQ-G50 genetic sequencer and a robotic nucleic extraction and sample preparation system MGISP-100, to support the country's public health authority in the genomic surveillance on the infectious strains. The system will also "prepare Nigeria in the fight against Lassa fever virus, Yellow fever, Ebola and other infectious agents characterised by the genetic code", said Dr. Adeleke Mamora, the Minister of State for Health of Nigeria.

MGI also supplied a genetic sequencer DNBSEQ-G50 to a key national COVID-19 testing laboratory in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The much-needed instrument by the poverty-stricken country desperately lacking public health resources, will support the country's response efforts in the virus detection and genomic surveillance of COVID-19 variants.

MGI's technology improves the speed, efficiency and affordability of the laboratory workflow. DNBSEQ-G50, based on the proprietary DNBSEQ^TM technology, is a compact and flexible benchtop sequencer that supports a range of applications including medica research, clinical diagnostics, and agriculture. MGISP-100 is an automated workstation to prepare biological samples for high-throughput sequencing, minimising the need of manual handling.

MGI's instruments increase the COVID-19 testing speed substantially and keep the frontline health workers safe. Since the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak MGI has been actively making efforts to contribute to the global fight against COVID-19 in various countries including China, Thailand, Latvia, Sweden, Australia and more.