Russia Registers Domestic Test System To Identify Coronavirus Cases - Authorities

The Russian government consumer rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Friday that a test system to identify coronavirus cases developed by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector had been registered

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) The Russian government consumer rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Friday that a test system to identify coronavirus cases developed by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector had been registered.

"On February 11, 2020, a registration certificate ... for a test system to detect the [ribonucleic acid] virus 2019-nCoV coronavirus using the [polymerase chain reaction] method developed by the Vector center of Rospotrebnadzor was registered," the agency said.

The new strain of coronavirus, which has now been dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located in the province of Hubei, in December and has since spread to more than 25 countries, including Russia. At least 63,851 people have been infected across China, and as many as 1,380 patients have died. Outside China, over 500 people have been infected, and two have already died.