Chinese Government provides SBD 2.5 million grant to purchase Covid-19 testing kits, laboratory equipment, and a qPCR machine in April 2020

On April 1, 2020, the Chinese Government agreed to provide the Solomon Islands Government with a SBD 2.5 million ($300,000) grant to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. This grant funds were supposed to be used by the Solomon Islands Government for buying testing kits and other laboratory equipment to strengthen the capacity and capability of the health authorities. A formal handover ceremony for the donation was conducted on April 16, 2020. Covid-19 testing kits, laboratory equipment, and a qPCR machine were purchased from the Beijing Genomic Institution with some of the grant money. However, the supplies did not arrived in Honiara on a special flight operated by Solomon Airline Airbus until April 23, 2020. At the time, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare announced the the Chinese Government would also donated 125,000 pairs of protective gloves (captured via Project ID#90222).

Additional details

1. Founded in 1999, Beijing Genomic Institution (BGI) is one of the world's leading life science and genomics organizations and its mission is to use genomics to benefit mankind and to be a leader in the field of life sciences. With businesses in more than 100 countries and regions around the world, BGI has established cooperation and partnerships with thousands of different organizations across multi-disciplinary research areas including medical health, resource conservation, and judicial services. At the same time, BGI provides equipment, technical support, and solutions for the needs of national economies and people's livelihoods such as precision medicine and health.

Number of official sources

5

Number of total sources

16