Vietnam develops quick coronavirus test kit
pharmafile | February 10, 2020 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Wuhan Coronavirus, china coronavirus, coronavirus, vietnam, vietnam coronavirus
Researchers in Vietnam have developed a coronavirus test kit which provides results in 70 minutes instead of four hours like the present method being used.
The test kit amplifies the ribonucleic acid of pathogens to identify the virus. The current method used around the world is a standardized method called Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, which is recommend by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The scientists who created the kit are from the School of Biotechnology and Food Technology under Hanoi University of Science and Technology. The group was led by Dr Le Quang Hoa and worked in collaboration with Innogenex International Technology Science LTD Company. They began their study on 15 January after China had announced the gene characterization of the coronavirus.
Dr Hoa said: “The advantage of the new technique is that it is a simple analysis and does not require complicated equipment. It shortens the testing time and simplifies the analysis process. We hope that the health ministry and the Ministry of Science and Technology will support the research team to verify the product and apply it in testing the virus in the future.”
Currently the kits are being used in the Hue Central hospital, and has been tested on people showing symptoms of acute respiratory system inflammation, coughing, fever or shortness or breath as well as people returning from infected areas.
There have been more than 40,000 cases of the virus globally, with the total number of deaths in China reaching 908.
Conor Kavanagh
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