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Belarus has over 20,000 coronavirus testing kits

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MINSK, 7 April (BelTA) – There are more than 20,000 testing kits for COVID-19 in Belarus, Deputy Director of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alina Dronina said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.

“The National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology performs some 700 tests a day. There are 13 laboratories working currently in the country,” Alina Dronina said.

According to her, only domestically produced testing kits are used in the laboratory of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. The country uses several testing systems, with some of which donated by China, Russia and some of which are of Belarusian manufacture. “All the testing kits that we use to diagnose the coronavirus are built on the same principle: they detect a fragment of RNA, or viral genome in the material,” Alina Dronina said.

It takes about six hours to learn the result. However, if a large number of tests are performed at the same time, the procedure may take up to 24 hours.

To increase the efficiency of testing, a swab of the nose and throat is taken from the patient separately and placed in one test tube. The material is transported to the laboratory in three packs: a test tube on a tripod placed in a bag, which, in turn, placed in a thermo bag with a refrigerant. As soon as the laboratory receives a positive result, a special ambulance team takes the patient to hospital.

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