Hyundai Motor Company's North American wing said on Tuesday that it will expand its support for coronavirus drive-thru testing in more than 20 hospitals in the United States. The company also pledged to donate 65,000 tests to hospitals in the United States. The tests that will be provided have been developed by a South Korean based diagnostics company.
United States has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and has been struggling to contain the spread of the virus. Shortage of personal protective gear, medical equipment like ventilators and testing kits has made the situation even worse.
Hyundai lends a helping hand
Hyundai Motor America on Tuesday announced that it will expand its support for Covid-19 drive-thru testing to 22 hospitals in the United States. The South Korean carmaker also announced $4 million in grants through its Hyundai Hope on Wheels Program. A number of other major carmakers and retailers have been setting up drive-thru testing facilities in the United States.
The tests would be provided in host of cities including Chicago, Detroit and New Orleans, which have been among the hardest-hit cities after New York. Hyundai is the only automaker providing these critical testing capabilities to hospitals in the United States.
The 65,000 COVID-19 RT-PCR tests that are to be donated by Hyundai have been developed by Seegene, a South Korea-based global leader in multiplex molecular diagnostics. The tests can simultaneously detect three different genes (N, E and RdRP) of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. "As a global automaker, we continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and its potential harm to the U.S. and beyond," said Jose Muñoz, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America.
Hyundai's coronavirus fight continues
The Covid-19 outbreak has been biting into the profits of global carmakers with most companies temporarily halting production and shuttering plants. Hyundai too has been hit hard with lockdown in United States, China and Europe.
Global carmakers have been witnessing a decline in production and sales ever since the coronavirus outbreak, which is likely to impact them in not only the first but also the second quarter. Hyundai's US sales plummeted 43% in March. However, the South Korean carmaker has been doing its best to fight the pandemic.
Hyundai and its over 825 dealers have also come forward to support institutions in the United States with financial assistance, food donations, face mask headband production and loaned vehicles. Hyundai also resumed work at its Czech Republic plant on Tuesday after a three-week outage. It is the first car company to restart production in Czech Republic, as the country started easing a few restrictions following the coronavirus outbreak.
