Expert from the Faculty of Medicine of M.U.S.T. Participates in the 
Development of Rapid Virus Diagnostic System - Expecting its
Production for Fighting against COVID-19 in Macao

(From left) Professor Terence Lau Lok-ting, Director of Innovation and Technology Development of PolyU, Professor Alexander Wai Ping-kong, Vice President of PolyU, and Dr. Manson Fok, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of M.U.S.T.

On 11^th February, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced that after four years of research, it has successfully developed a fully automated multiplex infectious diagnostic system for respiratory pathogens. In one single test and within one hour, it can quickly identify more than 40 pathogens, including the 2019-nCoV (NCP, newly named as COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome virus (MERS) and avian influenza viruses (H5, H7, H9).

Dr. Manson Fok, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Macau University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.), participated in the research and development team. He expressed that the diagnostic system has been tested on different clinical samples, including those from COVID-19 patients, and the results are all reliable. Dr. Fok hoped that, with regard to the current outbreak of COVID-19, this technology can be produced and applied in the market as soon as possible to fill the current demand for rapid and accurate virus testing in Macao.