China develops 29-minute testing kit for COVID-19

The Chinese National Medical Products Administration approved a rapid testing kit for the COVID-19 antibody with results available in 29 minutes, Report informs, citing Xinhua.

Developed by a research team led by Xiamen University, the kit can be used for clinical cases, suspected cases, and the screening of high-risk groups, improving the testing efficiency of front-line medical institutions.

The kit had conducted clinical trials in hospitals in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak. The combination of nucleic acid tests and antibody detection has improved the detection rate.

As of March 2020, the coronavirus outbreak had infected over 80,600 people in total, and almost three thousand had succumbed to death in mainland China.