TORONTO, Sept. 21, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Relay Medical Corp. (“Relay” or the “Company”) (CSE: RELA, OTC: RYMDF, Frankfurt: EIY2) and Fio Corporation (“Fio”) – together through their joint venture, Fionet Rapid Response Group (“FRR”) – are pleased to report on the signing of a definitive agreement and provide an update on the deployment to combat the malaria epidemic in Rwanda, East Africa.
The Rwanda Ministry of Health signed a procurement agreement with FRR to deploy the Fionet Platform for decentralized malaria testing. Under the terms of the agreement, FRR will receive CAD $750,000, which has been already secured by the Ministry, to deploy the Fionet Platform for six months for use by 180 community-based healthcare workers. The six-month deployment is a pilot to evaluate a national scale up, which could then lead to a subsequent agreement to deploy Fionet for Rwanda’s 60,000 healthcare workers.
“Rwanda is a fast-growing African leader in using innovative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to bring rapid, high-quality, connected diagnostics to the community level everywhere. We are confident the Fionet Platform will serve Rwanda’s objective very well. COVID-19 continues to demonstrate that such an objective is just as important in developed countries,” said Dr. Michael Greenberg, CEO of FRR.
Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal, disease spread by mosquitoes and caused by a parasite. It is contracted by over 200 million people per year, and kills over 400,000 people annually, of whom two-thirds are children under the age of five1. Nearly half of the world’s population lives in areas at risk of malaria transmission.
Rwanda has a population of 12.6 million and is the one of the most densely populated country in Africa2. It is in the top 25 countries in the world with the highest number of malaria cases and deaths and takes fighting the disease very seriously3.
The Fionet Platform can enhance the quality of healthcare delivered in decentralized health centers, health posts, and communities in Rwanda. Frontline health care professionals will use Fionet Mobile Devices to support frontline testing through the continuous capture and transmission of comprehensive medical data to a centralized aggregation point. In real time, Fionet Portals allow off-site supervisors and managers to track and direct frontline action based on accurate epidemiological information.
Fionet’s accuracy, data capture and distribution capability was demonstrated in a paper published in a technical journal by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency4. Fionet has proven to be a reliable rapid diagnostic testing solution during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fionet was successfully used to test and track over one million patients in remote settings around the world for infectious diseases including malaria, HIV and dengue fever.
The Fionet Platform was most recently deployed for COVID-19 testing at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), FIFA qualifying matches in advance of the World Cup in Qatar 2022, and at Canada’s largest international airport. Ongoing testing engagements of COVID-19 rapid testing with the largest Canadian lab will continue throughout the nation.
The Company announces that it has granted an aggregate of 500,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company at today’s closing price, and expiring five (5) years from the date of grant, to certain officers, directors and consultants of the Company.
RECENT NEWS: Relay announces agreement with Unisys (NYSE: UIS)5, a global IT solutions company, to market a combined solution for COVID-19 and biosecurity market needs: https://bit.ly/3AqDI0h
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About Relay Medical Corp.
Relay Medical is a technology innovator headquartered in Toronto, Canada focused on the development of novel solutions in the diagnostics, AI data science and IoT security sectors.
Website: www.relaymedical.com
Contact:
Destine Lee
Media & Communications
Relay Medical Corp.
Office. 647-872-9982
TF. 1-844-247-6633
Media Inquiries: media@relaymedical.com
Investor Relations: investor.relations@relaymedical.com
Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement
Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company’s control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for the technology described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company’s filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.
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1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda
3 MALARIA DEATH RATE BY COUNTRY (worldlifeexpectancy.com)
4 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214180418300412
5 https://www.nyse.com/quote/XNYS:UIS
