New World Development partners Prenetics to distribute COVID test kits

New World Development has partnered with genetic and diagnostic health testing company Prenetics to donate 200,000 sets of COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits to six non-profit organisations starting from late February, enabling them to identify and distribute these kits to the underprivileged who are most in need.

The conglomerate said it hoped the latest initiative will help alleviate the financial burden of the underprivileged in purchasing testing kits, while also dealing with the challenging fifth wave of the pandemic.

A total of 200,000 rapid antigen test kits will be donated by New World and Prenetics. The test kits have been granted emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration , and approved by the Singapore HSA and Australia ARTG.

"When the pandemic evolves, our community initiatives evolve with it. In the past, we have pioneered Hong Kong’s first smart mask dispenser to distribute face masks to the underprivileged, and provided vaccination allowance to those in need. As the pandemic takes a turn for the worse, we believe partnering with Prenetics will vastly lower the social burden on the much needed testing facilities, and amplify the social contribution of Hong Kong’s start-ups," said Adrian Cheng, CEO of New World Development.

New World and Prenetics will donate the first batch of COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits to six non-profit organisations in Hong Kong starting from late February, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service, Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service, Society for Community Organization, HKYWCA, Children's Cancer Foundation, and St. James’ Settlement. These organisations will distribute the testing kits to beneficiaries who are most in need, such as workers in caring homes, and those whose occupations require regular testing, including those in healthcare, cleaning, security, and catering. Underprivileged, single elderly and those who are chronically ill will also be given the highest priority.

Prenetics CEO Danny Yeung said: “Understanding the urgent need of rapid testing kits, we are delighted to partner with New World Development to provide these kits to individuals who can truly benefit from them. We continue to ramp up our manufacturing supply chain to millions of rapid test kits including Circle HealthPod in the coming months to serve the local community.”

In addition, New World Development and Prenetics will also donate 50 sets of Circle HealthPods and 500 single use COVID-19 capsules to the six NGOs to keep their frontline workers safe.

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