BANGKOK, April 3 – The first batch of 20,000 locally- produced test kits for Coronavirus (Covid-19) was given to the government for distribution to hospitals nationwide.
Suvit Maesincee, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation said Mahidol University worked with Siam Bioscience and the Department of Medical Science to develop the real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) coronavirus test kits.
About 100,000 test kits will be manufactured by the end of this month and distributed by the government to hospitals.
The manufacturers target to make one million test kits available by the next six months.
The locally-produced test kits will solve the lab supply shortage and ensure availability of sufficient testing supplies at over 100 labs across the country, the minister said.
The price is around 1,500 baht each, much cheaper than imported ones worth about 4,500 baht each.
The testing will support screening processes to track and isolate those carrying the virus as one of efficient measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 outbreak in the country. (TNA)
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