The authorities in the northwestern Angolan province of Uíge will begin in the next few days setting up a laboratory to be fitted out by Chinese biotechnology company BGI Group with the capacity to test up to 2,000 samples a day for the Covid-19 virus, Angop reports, quoting Angola’s Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda.

The Angolan government-run news agency quotes Mr Mufinda as saying on Wednesday, during a visit to Uíge, that the laboratory, to be set up in the district of Mbemba Ngango, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, will serve Uíge and the neighbouring provinces of Cuanza-Norte, Bengo and Malanje.

Last month the Chinese government-run news agency, Xinhua, reported that the Angolan government and BGI Group had struck a deal on equipping five new laboratories in Angola for testing for the Covid-19 virus.