(Yicai Global) March 15 -- As Shanghai grapples with its worst outbreak of Covid-19 so far, hundreds of volunteers with laboratory experience are coming forward to help the city perform the huge number of nucleic acid tests needed to monitor and curb the spread of the disease.

More than 200 scientific researchers and scientists showed up on the first day of recruitment in the city’s Pudong New Area, the Shanghai Observers reported yesterday. And drugmaker Shanghai Medicilon sent 24 technical staff to Shanghai Biotecan Pharmaceuticals, the municipality’s largest third-party testing institution, within hours of receiving the call for help.

Nucleic acid tests can only be administered by those with laboratory experience. Yesterday the city logged the highest number of newly added cases in one day at 169. From March 1, some 955 cases, 94 of which are confirmed locally transmitted cases and the rest are asymptomatic cases, have been detected in Shanghai.

Shanghai is home to 409 pharmaceutical firms and 17 top labs which nurture a great deal of scientific talent. Last year these companies’ revenue exceeded CNY5 million (USD784,454). The scale of the city’s biopharmaceutical sector is predicted to exceed CNY700 billion (USD109.8 billion) in 2021.

Editor: Kim Taylor