Saudi Arabia signs $265m deal with China to expand testing

China will provide Saudi Arabia with nine million Covid-19 test kits under a $264 million (Dh969m) deal signed on Sunday. The contract also provides the kingdom with 500 technicians from China to perform the tests and train Saudi staff.

Saudi Arabia says the agreement with China's BGI Group indicates the kingdom “is racing time to diagnose and isolate cases in order to reduce the risks of this pandemic”.

The agreement will also lead to setting up of six regional laboratories, including a mobile lab, across the country, each with the capacity to conduct 10,000 tests per day. Also included in the contract is comprehensive community testing and the genetic mapping of a number of samples in the kingdom as well as analysis of immunity mapping for one million samples.

Saudi Arabia has also purchased testing kits from several other companies in the US, Switzerland and South Korea, amounting to 14.5 million tests, which covers about 40 per cent of the country’s population.

Saudi Arabia has reported 17,522 deaths and 139 deaths from Covid-19. There have been almost 1,000 cases a day since April 17, when the number of cases is about 7,000.

Saudi Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Abdulaali has said there could be another 15,000 coronavirus cases in the country, as indicated by an app used by 600,000 people in the kingdom to help identify suspected infections.

The country has begun the gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions. Last week, Saudi authorities ordered the “transformation to a partial curfew,” allowing some businesses to reopen and easing restrictions on movement to lessen the economic toll on the country during the crisis.

From Wednesday, shops, malls and construction companies will be allowed to resume work but restaurants, cinemas and beauty salons will remain closed with a ban on gathering of more than five people still in place.

However, a 24-hour lockdown remains in Makkah, one of the hardest-hit urban centres in the kingdom.

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Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill

Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.