In light of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, Temasek Foundation, Singapore has offered to provide 5000 numbers of Fortitude Kit 2.0 (COVID-19 test kits) to the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka.

The donation was handed over by Mr. Benedict Cheong, Chief Executive of Temasek Foundation International to High Commissioner Sashikala Premawardhane on 20^th March 2020 at the High Commission premises.

The High Commission has promptly made arrangements to deliver the test kits to Sri Lanka, which have been received by the Health authorities in Colombo on Sunday, 22 March 2020.

Fortitude Kit 2.0 is designed by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A* Star) to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The kit comes complete with all the materials required for the RT-PCR reaction, which includes the primer probes mix, the enzyme mix, the positive control, negative control and internal control template, and would be able to give results in less than (3) hours.

At the handing over, the High Commission on behalf of the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka expressed sincere gratitude to Temasek Foundation for this kind support, which will be immensely useful in Sri Lanka’s efforts in dealing with the COVID-19 situation.

This donation is also a testimony to the longstanding friendly relations between Singapore and Sri Lanka.