HCMC – Vietnam will do quick Covid-19 tests at airports and border gates as it will allow more experts and investors to come in the coming time, said officials at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on September 9.
Nguyen Cong Tac, deputy minister of Science and Technology, said local firms have successfully produced two types of quick test kit with high efficiency for SAR-CoV-2 infections after seven days. Moreover, the nation has developed a quick test kit for antigen using Realtime-PCR, but this method is more complicated and time consuming.
Officials of the steering committee stressed the need to stay safe from the disease. The nation must open its doors to experts and investors to fuel economic development.
Therefore, Vietnam will deploy a quick Covid-19 testing strategy at border gates, airports, hospitals and crowded places to ensure the early detection of infections and prevent community spread.
At present, some companies are urgently working on the production of an affordable antigen test kit. The new product should produce test results in a shorter time but its efficiency must be equal to or better than Realtime-PCR.
A representative of Medicon Company said that the firm would focus on making a new test kit as soon as possible. Medicon has prepared material for 500,000 test kits and will apply for distribution so it can begin mass production, with daily output of around 50,000 to 100,000 kits.
Initially, Medicon expects to sell the test kit at some US$3.5 or 70% of the price of foreign products, the representative was cited by Nguoi Lao Dong Online website as saying.
Meanwhile, Sao Thai Duong Company said it has cooperated with researchers to deploy the production of a new version of the Realtime LAMP test kit and will submit the project to the relevant agencies for evaluation.
Experts at the conference suggested the Ministry of Health come up with a plan to carry out Covid-19 tests at airports as the country is going to resume some international flights. The related ministries will create the necessary conditions to pilot all the quick antigen test kits developed by Vietnamese firms.
