MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russian-made coronavirus test systems, developed by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR (the Vector institute) of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor), have been shipped to ten countries already, Rospotrebnadzor press service said Tuesday.
"By this point, the test systems, developed by the Vector Institute, have been shipped to 10 foreign countries, both CIS members and beyond. In particular, they helped to diagnose the coronavirus disease in Armenia and Belarus," the message says.
Recently, Russia has also shipped these systems to Mongolia. The press service says Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova met with the Mongolian delegation to discuss coronavirus prevention issues.
"Our partners expressed readiness to work together to fight the epidemic using Russian approaches and algorithms on early disease diagnosing. The Mongolian side also informed [us] on use of Russian recommendations during development of national coronavirus fight plans," the message says.
A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center, in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Besides China, major coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in South Korea, Iran and Italy. More than 100 countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.
Over 3,100 people have died in China, which accounts for the majority of novel coronavirus cases, more than 59,900 patients have recovered, while the total number of infected people stands at 80,700.
According to the World Health Organization, over 110,000 have been infected globally; slightly more than 3,800 patients have died.