Coronavirus: Japan company launches ‘15-minute testing kit’ as government ramps up screening capacity
- Osaka-based Kurabo Industries claims the US$235 kits have an accuracy rate of 95 per cent and can be used 10 times to test for the Covid-19 virus
- It comes as the country, with more than 1,500 cases and 32 deaths, has ramped up its testing capacity so it can screen up to 7,000 people a day
The country now has the ability to screen as many as 7,000 people a day, but is adhering to a policy of only testing individuals identified as being particularly at risk, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Between February 18 and March 14, 29,122 tests were carried out across Japan.
The number of tests has varied between 100 and 800 per day, according to the needs of local authorities faced with sudden clusters of cases emerging in certain parts of the country, a ministry spokesman said.
We have a far bigger capacity now and the capability to carry out 6,000 or 7,000 tests every day,” said Takuma Kato, deputy director of the ministry’s Infectious Disease Control Division.
“We believe that we need to prioritise the testing of people who need it. We are not testing people who just say they want to be tested; we are checking people who have been seen by a doctor who then recommends that they undergo the test.”