Beijing's air-inflated lab to expand testing capacity

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Beijing's first air-inflated testing lab, called the Huoyan (Fire Eye) Laboratory, is adding seven more film chambers and increasing the total number to 16. Upon completion, its daily testing capacity will expand to 100,000 samples.

China.org.cnUpdated: June 27, 2020

Beijing's first air-inflated testing lab, called the Huoyan (Fire Eye) Laboratory, is adding seven more film chambers and increasing the total number to 16. Upon completion, its daily testing capacity will expand to 100,000 samples.

The lab, located in Beijing's Daxing district, was designed in accordance with Biosafety Level 2. Through the innovative designs of the fresh air system and the high-efficient filtration system, the air in and out of each function zone in the lab can be filtrated, so workers outside the chamber do not need to wear protective clothing. 

The lab uses the most advanced equipment made in China, with each piece of equipment handling 96 samples at a time, which is more efficient than manual operation. 

Liu Xin, a person in charge at the lab, said that, compared with traditional labs, the air-inflated nucleic acid testing lab can be built very quickly. It takes only 50 minutes to inflate a film chamber, which adopts a modular design and can be upgraded in response to the latest outbreak situation.

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