Beijing, China, Feb. 7, 2022 -- The 2022 Winter Olympics is taking place as scheduled in China across three zones: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou from February 4 to February 20. Guided by the principle of "Green, Inclusive, Open and Clean", Beijing will work to deliver a simple, safe, and splendid Olympics and a magnificent "Fete on Ice and Snow" to the world. The event will also be the largest international multi-sport event to be held in China since the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has posed a daunting challenge to the Winter Olympic Games. The national authority has implemented a COVID-safe Bubble System, a closed loop system, to keep residential quarters, venues and other official facilities isolated from the public with minimal contact. Daily testing and mobile-phone-app tracking systems are implemented for thousands of athletes, coaches, officials, and other participants arriving in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Body temperature monitoring, environmental disinfection and pathogen detection are strictly required during the event to safeguard athletes and staff members. MGI's innovative lab automation systems, including 6 units of MGISTP-7000, 3 units of MGISP-NE384, and 2 units of MGISP-960, are put to "test" in Zhangjiakou Olympic Village, providing mass COVID-19 testing for all participants to ensure a COVID-safe event.

MGI multiple lab automation systems installed in the Zhangjiakou competition venue

MGISTP-7000 high-throughput automated sample transfer processing system, specifically designed for fast mass COVID-19 testing, automates the labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures such as barcode identification, tube decapping, liquid transfer, and tube recapping. MGISP-960 high-throughput automated sample preparation system can accommodate different sample batches to process 192 samples in 80 minutes to meet the requirements of the Winter Olympics for the testing speed, throughput, and safety. MGISP-NE384 is a high-throughput automated nucleic acid extractor, using the magnetic rod technology. One unit of MGISP-NE384 can process 10,000 samples per day to provide instrumental support for large-scale testing.

MGISP-960 high-throughput automated sample preparation system

MGISP-NE384 is a high-throughput automated nucleic acid extractor

MGI's three powerful lab automation systems can work together to simplify the whole process from barcode identification, sample preparation, DNA/RNA extraction, liquid transfer, and fluorescence quantitative PCR testing to report distribution in a diagnostic testing laboratory and enable a highly efficient streamlined workflow. The systems minimize the labor required, and significantly shorten the turnaround time for a test report, thus improving the testing efficiency and capacity.

Lab Technician is operating the machine

"If all these equipment are put into use, the maximum daily testing capacity can reach up to 45,000 samples during the competition. It shortens the turnaround time for a test report to just 4 hours to meet the mass testing needs of the following 2 major competitions, 6 sub-competitions and 50 minor competitions held in Zhangjiakou Olympic Venue." Said MGI.

In addition, as early as October 25, MGI deployed six after-sales engineers to be stationed at the Zhangjiakou competition venue. "We work in two shifts to provide 24-hour support for the equipment installation, debugging and training, and we will be here standby until the end of the Winter Paralympic Games in April 2022. Despite all the hardships, we are delighted to contribute to this world-famous international event." Said one of the MGI engineers.

During the Winter Olympics, Peking University Third Hospital will provide rapid medical support for athletes. Empowered by MGI's robotic ultrasound system, MGIUS-R3, doctors at Peking University Third Hospital will be able to conduct remote real-time scanning and consultation for patients in the closed loop system.

MGI's robotic ultrasound system provides "remote real-time diagnosis" for athletes

MGIUS-R3 is the world's first ultrasonic device that can achieve remote real-time diagnosis without the need for a sonographer and patient to be at the same location via 5G network. It is composed of a doctor end and a patient end, and the patient end is deployed in the closed-loop clinic during the Olympic Games. MGIUS-R3 can equip multiple sensitive ultrasound probes on its robotic arm, which can be operated by a doctor through a control system at Peking University Third Hospital. Its humanized design can enable both doctor and patient to achieve real-time communication through the interactive screen, and its flexible manipulator system can simulate manual operation throughout the process to perfectly reproduce expert techniques. The patients can maintain communications with doctors on screen throughout the diagnosis.

MGI has been actively contributing to the global combat against COVID-19 by speeding up the efficiency of large-scale testing while ensuring a safer working environment for lab technicians. MGI automation systems have supported more than 70 countries to date, including safeguarding the World Figure Skating Championships held in Sweden. MGI will continue to contribute to the global pandemic control and prevention with its innovative technologies and products and extensive frontline experience.

About MGI

MGI Tech Co. Ltd. (MGI), headquartered in Shenzhen, is committed to building core tools and technology to lead life science through intelligent innovation. Based on its proprietary technology, MGI focuses on research & development, production and sales of sequencing instruments, reagents, and related products to support life science research, agriculture, precision medicine and healthcare. MGI is a leading producer of clinical high-throughput gene sequencers*, and its multi-omics platforms include genetic sequencing*, medical imaging, and laboratory automation. MGI's mission is to develop and promote advanced life science tools for future healthcare. For more information, please visit the MGI website or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.

*Unless otherwise informed, all sequencers and sequencing reagents are not available in Germany, USA, Spain, UK, Hong Kong, Sweden, Belgium, and Italy.