VN set to officially export COVID-19 test kit

VN set to officially export COVID-19 test kit

In a bid to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the country has been researching a variety of suitable test kits.

Of the tests, the real-time RT-PCR bio-kit conducted by the Military Medical Academy in collaboration with Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company has been successfully granted a license by the Ministry of Health for mass production.

The Viet Nam Military Medical University and Viet A Corporation, which manufacture the test kits, said they have shipped 50 kits to Ukraine and 100 others to Finland for registration in the host countries before official exports can begin.

In addition, other countries including Cambodia, Nigeria, Poland, Australia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Ireland have offered to purchase the Viet Nam-made test kits.

Director of Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company Phan Quoc Viet said  over the past week the firm has been able to mass produce 5,000 test kits for the COVID-19 which are to be used at testing facilities in tandem with the biological kit produced by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although the company has recently begun to put the product into mass production, it has so far received plenty of positive feedback from users regarding its high accuracy. Indeed, the company is capable of producing approximately 10,000 test kits each day, with a maximum capacity of 30,000 items per day depending on future demand, he said.

More than 40 hospitals and centers for disease control in Viet Nam have booked their slots for purchasing the test kits, while the kits have already been put into use at some medical units in the central city of Da Nang and the northern province of Bac Giang, as well as labs at Bach Mai Hospital and Ha Noi Medical University in Ha Noi, the Hue Central Hospital in Thua Thien-Hue Province, and Thai Nguyen National General Hospital in the namesake northern province.

Starting from this week, the company is about to post its first shipment of 50 kits, capable of performing 2,500 tests, to Ukraine, whilst a further 100 sets, capable of performing 5,000 tests, will be sent to Finland.

In addition, authorities in Ha Noi announced they had purchased 4,000 units of the test kit for local use and to send to Italy, the European country hardest hit by COVID-19 so far.

According to the manufacturers, a Viet Nam-made COVID-19 test kit includes 50 tests, with each one being used for one person and results becoming available after two hours.

The made-in-Viet Nam kit is priced at VND400,000-600,000 (US$17-26) per test.

The producers said they are capable of manufacturing 200 test kits, equal to 10,000 tests, a day.

Following the official announcement regarding the new test kit, over 10 countries globally, including Belgium, Ukraine, Finland, Nigeria, South Africa, Cambodia, have gone on to express a desire to purchase them.

The county has so far confirmed 61 cases of coronavirus infections, with 16 having fully recovered and been discharged from the hospital by February 26.

Forty-five cases have been reported in the Southeast Asian country since March 6 after Viet Nam had gone three weeks without any new infection.

By Vien Nhu