(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) Exploring Guangzhou "Falcon" Air Film Laboratory: A 24-hour race against the virus

　　China News Service, Guangzhou, June 4th. Title: Exploring Guangzhou "Falcon" Gas Film Laboratory: A 24-hour race against the virus

　　China News Service reporter Cai Minjie

　　In the Guangzhou Gymnasium with an area of ​​5,000 square meters, 4 groups of white gas film laboratories are symmetrically distributed and operate 24 hours a day.

Here, it is responsible for some sample testing tasks in Guangzhou, including high-risk and medium-risk areas from epidemic prevention and control.

　　At 22:00 on the 3rd, the personnel in each group of gas film laboratories performed nucleic acid detection such as opening and dividing cups, nucleic acid extraction, and spotting in their respective partitions. Nearly 300 devices were operating at high speed, and the computer continued to display the results of the fluorescence curve... …

　　The "Falcon" air film laboratory was jointly established by the China National Respiratory Diseases Clinical Medicine Research Center, Guangzhou Respiratory Health Research Institute and other units.

Li Huiyuan, the person in charge of the above-mentioned gas film laboratory, said that the four "Falcon" gas film laboratories were fully operational and put into use at 22:00 on the 3rd, and more than 200 inspectors were stationed in the laboratory to carry out the inspection work. Testing is carried out intermittently, with a daily nucleic acid testing capacity of 120,000 tubes.

As of 20 o'clock on the 4th, the laboratory's daily testing volume has reached 120,000 tubes.

Photo by Chen Chuhong in the sample processing area

　　In the No. 2 air film warehouse, the reporter saw that there are three areas in the warehouse: "reagent preparation area", "sample processing area" and "amplification area". There are independent corridors and buffer rooms between each area.

It is equipped with automatic detection equipment such as automatic opening and sample filling machine, automatic nucleic acid extraction, automatic sampling, and PCR amplification instrument.

　　In the sample processing area, fully automatic testing equipment is operating, and testing personnel are always paying attention to the operation of the equipment.

Yan Yuewen, a tester from Shenyang, said that compared with other laboratories, most of the gas film laboratories are automated, which reduces the manual steps required by the testers and speeds up nucleic acid detection.

　　"Now one person can watch the operation of several devices at the same time, and under the same testing requirements, the number of testing personnel can be reduced." Yan Yuewen said that the sample size has increased greatly recently, and the workload is large, but it needs to "race" against the virus. There is such a belief that supports her.

　　In the amplification zone, more than 20 computers are running at the same time, and the fluorescence curve drawing is interrupted on the screen.

The inspector Sun Peng alone is responsible for the observation of more than 20 computers, and judges the negative and positive results according to the fluorescence curve analysis, "but I can get busy."

Photograph by Chen Chuhong, Guangzhou Falcon Gas Film Laboratory

　　"The air film laboratory is similar in structure and structure to the traditional PCR (gene amplification) laboratory. The main feature of the air film laboratory is that it can be set up temporarily and quickly when there are emergency needs, so as to expand the testing site." Li Huiyuan said.

　　At present, the local new crown epidemic spreading in Guangdong presents the characteristics of a prolonged transmission chain and strong transmission of mutant strains, which increases the difficulty of cutting off the infection chain.

　　Guangzhou is "housing" the new coronavirus, and nucleic acid testing is the "gold standard."

Since the start of the nucleic acid investigation of all employees in key areas on May 26, as of 24:00 on June 2, Guangzhou has had a total of 7,817,600 nucleic acid samples, and 29 people have been found to be positive.

The demand for large-scale nucleic acid testing has increased substantially.

　　"Considering the tight work tasks, the working hours of our laboratory staff are relatively long each day. Each shift is about 12 hours, with breaks in between." Li Huiyuan said, "In the past, we had to complete the inspection of 30,000 tubes per day. We almost need 48 people. According to the new plan we are designing now, less than 40 people are needed to complete the same test."

　　Li Huiyuan said that at present, there is no direct evidence to prove that the emerging new crown variant strains will affect the existing new crown detection methods, but he will pay attention to this phenomenon.

　　The air film laboratory is supported by a metal frame, the outer film is a self-cleaning anti-aging film, and the inner and ground films are antibacterial films, which can inhibit the regeneration of germs.

At the same time, the laboratory is equipped with a high-efficiency filtered air supply and exhaust system, and the chamber can realize air pressure adjustment from +10Pa (pressure) to -20Pa, which can carry a safe negative pressure environment and ensure the safety of experimenters.

　　Yang Zifeng, assistant to the dean of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, said that the "Falcon" air film laboratory is more flexible in structure, and the screening and testing base can be expanded on a large scale by stationing in stadiums and other places in the city center.

　　Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, previously sent a message to "Falcon". He said that increasing the intensity of nucleic acid testing and screening and cutting off the chain of infection as soon as possible is the current priority of Guangzhou's anti-epidemic task.

The "Falcon" gas film laboratory was launched urgently to empower the fight against the epidemic.

　　According to reports, the "Falcon" series of laboratories include air film laboratories, container mobile laboratories, and bus mobile laboratories. The three solutions have their own strengths and can cooperate with each other in different detection scenarios.

Among them, the "Falcon" mobile inspection vehicle has arrived at the grassroots level, maneuvering to support various points, achieving a production capacity of 2,000 tubes per day.

　　In addition, large-scale nucleic acid testing in some areas of Foshan City is underway. The first negative pressure dura mater laboratory officially entered the pre-experimental operation at 12:00 on the 4th, and it is expected that each day can detect 300,000 people.

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