The lab will be independent, and will be operated by Israeli employees of MyHeritage using equipment supplied by the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI). The agreement stresses the issues of information security, privacy and the medical confidentiality of those being tested.
"We continue to strengthen the testing system with an addition that will help the national efforts in the fight against the coronavirus," said Health Minister Yaacov Litzman. "We welcome this and rely on this joint operation that will allow us to push forward testing professionally, efficiently and with availability."
"The most important mission is the strengthening of the testing system in scope, speed to deliver test results and reliability," said Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.
This agreement joins an earlier agreement signed between the two ministries and AID GENOMICS that will provide equipment from BGI to the health funds and hospitals throughout Israel. The equipment will allow for 12-14 thousand tests every day.