Moscow, April 15, 2020 – RUSAL (SEHK: 486; Moscow Exchange: RUAL), a leading global aluminium producer, announces that the Centre for Epidemic and Microbiological Research and Treatment (CEMRT), built by the Company in Kindia, Guinea in 2015, and acknowledged nationally as one of the sites for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, has received its first patient with coronavirus.

Following authorization from the National Agency for Health Security (ANSS), the patient tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the Centre on April 11, 2020. The patient’s state of health is stable as of April 15, 2020.

CEMRT is a modern centre with 60 in-patient beds and the latest medical equipment. By receiving patients tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility, RUSAL continues to assist Guinea in the fight against dangerous epidemics.

Evgenii Nikitin, RUSAL’s CEO, noted that "RUSAL has always stayed with Guinea in difficult times for the country: we built this centre to help Guinea fight Ebola. Today, we strive to provide full support to the Republic of Guinea in the fight against this new virus and will do all we can to help strengthen their national health system”.

The Centre for Epidemic and Microbiological Research and Treatment was built and fully equipped by RUSAL in the Kindia region in 2015 during the Ebola outbreak to combat the spread of the disease in Guinea. RUSAL’s investments in the construction and equipping of the Centre amount to more than USD 10 mln. The Centre has achieved positive results in the treatment of patients.

In 2017, as part of a private-public partnership, RUSAL and the Federal Consumer Supervision Service reorganized part of the Clinical and Diagnostic Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology into a modern laboratory complex allowing laboratory tests to be carried out in stationary conditions while offering high levels of protection. The efforts to repurpose some of the rooms were carried out by RUSAL in record time while taking into account the international standards and recommendations of the lead engineers from the Federal Consumer Supervision Service. RUSAL has also provided key assistance in the delivery and installation of precision equipment for the laboratory, weighing more than 50 tonnes.

Today the Federal Consumer Supervision Service created at the clinical and diagnostic research center of epidemiology and microbiology in conjunction with the Institute for Biological Research (IRBAG, Kindia) is part of the Russian-Guinean research centre of epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases. It is a unique facility in Western Africa because of its use of complicated technology and level of biological safety. Additionally, the new mobile laboratory was passed on to the Russian-Guinean epidemiology center. It will enable to quickly diagnose dangerous infections, which will help to take the national healthcare system of the Guinean Republic to a whole new level.

After the Russian president Vladimir Putin was contacted in late 2014 by the Guinean Republic President Alfa Konde asking for support, an Ebola vaccine was developed with the support of RUSAL. GamEvak Combi was created at the N. Gamaleya federal research center for epidemiology and microbiology of the Healthcare Ministry of Russia.

In December 2019, RUSAL and the Healthcare Ministry of Russia announced that they have finished an Ebola vaccination campaign in the republic of Guinea. Two thousand people received the new GamEvak Combi vaccine as part of the post-registration studies that are being conducted in Guinea at the Clinical Research and Diagnostics Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology

RUSAL presence in Guinea

RUSAL has been operating in the Republic of Guinea since 2001, and is today one of the largest international investors in the country. In Guinea, RUSAL owns Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (CBK), as well as the Friguia bauxite and alumina production facility. In addition, RUSAL is continuing with the implementation of a project aimed at developing the world's largest bauxite deposit Dian-Dian in Boke. The deposit has 564 million tonnes of proven bauxite supplies.