As the long winter ends, COVID-19 cases in Yantai have gradually cleared up, and companies are resuming their work; good news is arriving in cascades for people in this region. However, at 4:00 AM in Yantai, one group of people remains diligent at work: our silent but ever vigilant front line guards behind the scenes. They are of course the most beautiful of heroes—the staff responsible for the detection of the novel coronavirus.

In March of this year, during the critical period of the nationwide fight against the epidemic, Luye Diagnostics' Yantai Cellzone Diagnostics Center Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Cellzone Diagnostics Center) obtained the approval of the Health Committee of Yantai City for the detection of pathogenic microorganisms, thus becoming the city's first third-party medical testing agency capable of offering novel coronavirus testing. Since then, Cellzone Diagnostics Center has made full use of its own technology platform advantages, working intensively and around the clock to test samples from companies and enterprises moving back to full operational capacity, as well as other parties, to ensure a safe transition back to work and production. In the meantime, in accordance with the unified deployment of the city's testing measures, tests have been carried out on key population groups such as recent airport entries and district welfare agencies. The number of tested samples so far has exceeded 1,000.

In this issue of Luye Leadership Interview we will share, based on the Yantai Moments’s live report on the Cellzone Diagnostics Center, what Dr. Zhai Hongli, director of Cellzone Diagnostics Center, has said in regards to the testing technology, staffing, and more of the center's anti-epidemic work.

Dr. Zhai : (As shown in the figure below), the staff of Cellzone Diagnostics Center are conducting nucleic acid testing on a batch of samples collected from people who have returned to Yantai and are about to finish their 14-day quarantine period. The whole process takes about three hours. If the test result is negative, these people will be released from quarantine and allowed to return to work.

（The Novel Coronavirus Test Site at the Cellzone Diagnostics Center:）

(left)In the laboratory of Cellzone Diagnostics Center, testing staff fully armed with protective equipment are stepping up experimental operations such as nucleic acid testing and data analysis on samples.
（Right）Offline analysis of the test sample data

Using high standards and a high level of testing to lead the way in the "Anti-Epidemic War"

As an independent medical testing institution, Cellzone Diagnostics Center has been constructed in accordance with the P2 laboratory standard, and has passed technical review and acceptance of their clinical genetic amplification testing laboratory in the Shandong Provincial Clinical Inspection Center. The part of the laboratory that can undertake novel coronavirus nucleic acid testing covers an area of about 400 square meters, which meets the BSL-2 standard, and its mandatory personal protection procedures meet the requirements of the BSL-3 Laboratory standards. As the first third-party medical testing agency in Yantai, Cellzone Diagnostics Center strictly follows the protocol for unified deployment of relevant higher-level departments, and takes advantage of its own technology platform to actively participate in epidemic prevention and control.
 

Dr. Zhai : In order to better test for the novel coronavirus, we have arranged for our technical staff to receive professional protection skills training at the Yantai Center for Disease Control and Prevention; at the same time, our center also purchased sufficient testing reagents, and provided training to a number of clinical medical laboratory technicians and testing staff who have obtained PCR certificates. At present, all testing staff at our Center have been engaged in the work of sample testing.

Currently, our center has both manual and automated testing technologies. Manual operation can flexibly control the number of samples; automated operation is performed by Luye's self-developed equipment which can handle up to 48 samples for one batch, thereby saving considerable manual operation time. These two methods complement each other and perform efficiently within the actual testing process.

Locating contagious individuals in a timely manner and cutting off viable avenues of infection is a crucial part of epidemic prevention and control. Testing institutions bear substantial responsibilities in screening work. Up until now, the Cellzone Diagnostics Center has completed three batches of tests, with most of the samples having been collected from people who were outside of Yantai during the Spring Festival, or arrived from dangerous or low-risk areas as designated by the municipal government. These individuals will finish their quarantine period and soon be ready to resume work.

In order for enterprises to resume work and production smoothly, our center also assisted Luye Life Sciences Group in formulating the Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Testing for Employees to Resume Work, as well as providing nucleic acid testing services for Luye’s employees, to help the company smoothly handle the resumption of regular working duties by their personnel.
  

  
Daily Routine -On-site photos taken by Dr. Zhai

Concluding remarks

Epidemic prevention is a tough and protracted battle and it is our due responsibility to take part in this battle fought by Yantai High-tech Zone incubator companies! Following guidance offered by the health department, Cellzone Diagnostics Center will continue to give full play to its advantages in the field of medical testing; we will also help improve the efficiency of novel coronavirus pneumonia prevention and control in order to scientifically, comprehensively, orderly, and effectively promote enterprises resuming work as soon as possible. In this way we aim to facilitate a smooth and effective return to normal production, armed with our expertise and knowledge.