Japan donates two corona virus testing kits to Pakistan

The first consignment of primers (reagents) to detect the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) will reach the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, on Friday from Japan, enabling the federal health officials to test at least 1000 samples for the lethal virus, officials told The News on Thursday.

“The government of Japan has donated primers which would reach NIH Islamabad on Friday morning. This would enable us to analyze at least 1,000 suspected samples for the novel Coronavirus that has wreaked havoc in China and created panic all over the world,” said Dr. Muhammad Salman, Chief Public Health, Labs Division, NIH, while talking to The News.

At the moment, Pakistan lacks the capacity to detect the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is a new virus that causes serious respiratory illness in people and can spread from person-to-person. This virus was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan cityof China and now it has spread to at least 15 countries, infecting over 7,000 people and causing 150 deaths in China alone.