SHANGHAI, January 31. /TASS/. An express test to identify the novel coronavirus has been developed in the Chinese city of Wuxi, eastern Jiangsu Province. The test kit delivers results in 8-15 minutes, Xinhua news agency reported citing the city’s science and technology department.

The express test is highly sensitive, easy to use and transport.

The fast analysis kit to detect the virus was developed by experts of the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention together with one of Wuxi’s high-tech companies. The express test has already been commissioned for production. Currently, the amount of kits produced is not enough to test around 4,000 people a day. The first shipment of these tests is already employed in the most virus-hit Hubei Province.

On January 29, the Russian general consulate in China’s Guangzhou reported that Russia had received genome of the new virus from China. Russian scientists managed to develop express tests capable of identifying the virus within two hours.

On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent - coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The virus spread to 19 more countries, apart from China - Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Vietnam. The WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.

Currently, the total number of infections soared to 9,720 with 213 deaths reported.