China CDC remobilises P3 lab to facilitate COVID-19 nucleic acid testing in Beijing

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) on Wednesday remobilized its mobile P3 lab to facilitate COVID-19 nucleic acid testing in Beijing amid a renewed outbreak, according to China's state broadcaster.

The laboratory's testing team assigned 14 members to the disease control and prevention center of Fengtai district in southwestern Beijing, per the report, and the team's daily testing capacity based on its current apparatus could hit 1,000.

The latest outbreak, which has sickened 137 in six days in Beijing, is linked to the Xinfadi wholesale agricultural market located in the Fengtai district. The market is the largest of its kind in Asia.

The mobile P3 lab and its testing unit have reached out to many key virus containment regions across the country including Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province, Mudanjiang in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and Jilin in Northeast China's Jilin Province, providing assistance to local antivirus efforts.

As part of the nation's efforts to improve its testing ability for pathogens and health hazards in the wake of the initial coronavirus outbreak, the National Development and Reform Commission and two other government ministries unveiled a plan in May that requires every province to establish at least one P3 lab, and major cities to have at least one P2 lab.

Under the plan, centers for disease control and prevention at the provincial level should focus on improving their lab testing abilities, upgrading lab equipment and instruments, and strengthening their bio-safety containment capacities.

There are currently more than 20 P3 labs scattered nationwide, in addition to one P4 lab based in Wuhan, according to media reports.