Vietnam has resumed flights to China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Cambodia, and Laos since September 15 with an estimate of 20,000 incoming passengers each month that needs to be tested at least twice and quarantined.
With this matter at hand, the Ministry of Health in Vietnam has decided to use the Vietnam-Made COVID-19 test kits. At present, Vietnam’s largest manufacturer of test kits is Viet A Technologies JSC. The company makes 100,000 kits per day and can increase its capacity fivefold if necessary. It has supplied 90% of coronavirus test kits in Vietnam’s latest two waves of COVID-19 outbreak.
These test kits have been used at Vietnam’s airports and can accurately detect pathogenic viruses and can also confirm if a passenger is infected or not.
The deputy of Viet A Technologies JSC – Deputy General Vu Dinh Hiep said that the company is currently stocking up more than a million test kits in preparation for the increasing demand of the test kits. He also affirms that there are enough test kits to accommodate PCR laboratories at the airports in Vietnam which roughly takes 2-3 hours to provide the results.
There are also other sources of test kits aside from the Viet A Technologies which are Medicon, Sao Thai Duong and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. These units have been continuously researching to enhance coronavirus test kits in Vietnam.
Test kits produced by the Medicon have the same quality and specificity following the PCR method. The cost is 30% cheaper than the imported ones – expected to be about US$3.5 per test kits. However, these test kits are still in the pre-clinical research stage prior to launching according to the Director of Medicon, Dao Dinh Khoi.
Khoi also added that no later than October, Medicon will start registering this type of test kits. That it has already prepared raw materials to produce the first 500,000 licensed test kits. Approximately producing 50,000 to 100,000 test kits per day.
On the other hand, the Deputy General Director of Sao Thai Duong JSC Nguyen Thi Huong Lien said that their company is currently researching the test kits of Realtime-LAMP. This type of rapid antigen test has also the same quality and specificity of the PCR test but requires shorter time taking advantage of the available machines and equipment of the preventive medicine centers, thus the testing capacity can be raised by 9-12 times.
Despite having a low income status, Vietnam proved that they can produce accurate and quality test kits due to its broad research of treating tropical and infectious diseases.
Vietnam test kits gained approval from the WHO and UK around April this year which gave the test kits a laissez-passer to the markets of Europe.
These test kits have been evaluated and rated to be at par with that of the WHO kits. Despite being locally produced, it offers specificity, stability, and compatibility with multiple types of testing equipment.
Vietnam is one of the five countries to have been able to produce test kits that are ready and approved for export and has received multiple orders from 20 different countries around the globe. With the first batch shipped to countries such as Iran, Finland, Malaysia and Ukraine as stated by the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Office.
