China launches Second Phase of the Fixed Biological Safety Laboratory Technical Cooperation Project in June 2018

On June 6, 2018, the launching ceremony of the Second Phase of the Fixed Biological Safety Laboratory Technical Cooperation Project was held in Freetown. As part of the project, China will continue to provide technical assistance to Sierra Leone for a period of 3 years in the areas of monitoring, inspection, research and control of epidemics. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention operates the laboratory, and is responsible for the implementation of this project. On December 14, 2018, Wang Gang and He Xiaozhou of the Viral Disease Institute left China to implement the second phase of technical assistance project for the fixed biosafety laboratory in Sierra Leone. On December 14, 2019, members of China's CDC left China to aid the second phase of the technical assistance project in Sierra Leone. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the 11-member team has shifted its focus to fighting against the coronavirus for the people of Sierra Leone.. On September 3, 2020, Dr. Liu Tiezhu from the Institute of Viral Diseases, as a member of the expert group, went to Sierra Leone to implement the second and third phases of technical assistance projects for the fixed biosafety laboratory in Sierra Leone. On October 21, 2021, the second batch of experts for the third phase of the technical assistance project left China for Sierra Leone, so it is thought that the second phase of the project had been completed by this time, in alignment with its expected three-year completion period. China established a fixed bio-safety level III laboratory in Sierra Leone in 2015 following the break-out of Ebola epidemics in 2014. The lab cost $4.35 million and is recorded in project ID#44339.

Number of official sources

8

Number of total sources

11