Armenian scientists move closer to launching mass production of coronavirus PCR test kits

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. In the event of successful laboratory trials, locally made PCR test kits will be used to diagnose the novel coronavirus in Armenia in just two weeks, Dr. Arsen Arakelyan, the Director of The Institute ofMolecular Biology(IMB) of the National Academy of Sciencestold ARMENPRESS. Right now, health authorities are using imported test kits.

“We have already produced several prototypes which are being tested,” he said.

He said the samples of coronavirus patients will be used to test the accuracy of the test kits.

The Armenian scientists will make up to 3000 test kits in a day. The existing materials are sufficient for producing 100,000.

The Government of Armenia had allocated 550,000 dollars to the institute to start the production.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan