Masdar City at center of Abu Dhabi’s COVID-19 fightback, OBG reports

Masdar City has been at the center of Abu Dhabi efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxford Business Group reported, with a high-volume security testing facility being built in the sustainable development in just two weeks.

The facility, the first of its kind outside China, has the capacity to diagnose thousands of tests per day, the research firm said, in an article highlighting how digital infrastructure has been deployed around the world to contain the pandemic.

Established by artificial intelligence provider G42, and BGI, which specializes in human genomics, the laboratory conducts polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to identify SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.  The diagnostic kits were developed by BGI and have been approved for use in China, the USA, Europe and by the World Health Organization.

Other companies located at Masdar are also contributing to Abu Dhabi’s COVID-19 containment measures. Honeywell, one of the key strategic tenants in Masdar City, has joined forces with Mubadala Investment Company to produce N95 face masks locally, with a production line having commenced operations to produce about 90,000 masks a day.