The Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) test kits, produced by a group of scientists from Hanoi's School of Biotechnology and Food Technology, amplify the ribonucleic acid (RNA) of pathogens to identify them. It does this in 70 minutes, while current methods using the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) technique take at least 4 hours.

The nCoV is cultured inside the lab at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi.

A test by the new kits would cost VND350,000 ($15), while one with the RT-PCR kit costs around VND1 million ($43), Le Quang Hoa, the lead scientist, said at a conference Saturday.

The scientists began working on developing the new kits after the 2019-nCoV's genome sequence was published on the GenBank sequence database on January 13.

To get their test kits have wider application, the group wants at least 12 RNA samples from the virus to carry out internal tests before registering and mass-producing their product.

Vietnam had announced Friday that it has successfully cultured and isolated the nCoV in the lab, allowing quicker test results and paving the way for development of a new vaccine.

The country has so far confirmed 13 infections: six workers returning from China’s Wuhan City last month, the mother, sister and cousin of one of the workers, a Vietnamese-American visitor who transited in Wuhan, a Chinese man from Wuhan and his son who met him in Vietnam, and a hotel receptionist who served the father and son in Nha Trang.

Three of them have been discharged from hospitals: the Nha Trang hotel employee, the Chinese son, and one of the workers who returned from Wuhan.

The global death toll from the epidemic has reached 813 – one each in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and the remaining in mainland China.

Vietnamese province assists Chinese region in nCoV fight

Vietnam’s northern border province of Lang Son presented 350,000 medical face masks to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China on February 6 to join hands in the fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV).

Bac Giang city mobilizes forces to join in nCoV epidemic prevention

(BGO) – Bac Giang city is the capital of ​​Bac Giang province that houses many agencies, units and schools, and is a crowded place. Amid the urgent need of the prevention and control of an acute respiratory disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus called nCoV, the city is urgently implementing measures with a determination to prevent the disease.

Bac Giang gives top priority for nCoV prevention and control

(BGO) - Chairman of the People’s Committee of Bac Giang province Duong Van Thai, Head of the Steering Committee for prevention against the acute respiratory epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus (the Steering Committee) chaired a meeting of the Steering Committee and the assisting team on 5 February.

Vietnam offers free treatment to nCoV patients

Patients carrying the new coronavirus or suspected of infection will be tested gratis across Vietnam.

Bac Giang’s export and import yet to be impacted by nCoV epidemic

(BGO) – In the face of nCoV complex situation, the Customs Office controlling the industrial parks in Bac Giang province and the Department of Industry and Trade have strictly supervised the situation to give timely instruction to the enterprises.

Source: VnExpress