Armenia has no lab tests to diagnose 2019-nCov coronavirus

There are no laboratory tests in Armenia for the diagnosis of the new 2019-nCoV coronavirus. However, these tests may appear within the next 10 days due to collaboration with WHO and Russia, the head of Department of Epidemiology of Special Dangerous and Airborne diseases Liana Torosyan told reporters on Wednesday.

According to her, tests, which are reagents for studies by the method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), appeared in countries of 'high risk' such as China and in neighboring countries. And they are not available in countries with the risk of the spread of coronavirus considered low.

"We do our best to have these tests. We will get them through close cooperation with WHO and Russia as soon as possible," she said

According to the expert, there is an opportunity to diagnose SARS and other varieties of coronaviruses. If there is a suspicion of coronavirus 2019-nCoV, biological samples can be sent to laboratories in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands or Russia, where they can confirm or deny the presence of the virus.

According to Liana Torosyan, one of the most common manifestations of the new coronavirus is infiltrative pneumonia, which is often accompanied by high fever. If a patient in Armenia has such problems, his tests will be sent to one of the mantioned laboratories if Armenia does not have its own reagents at that time.

However, there are no patients with suspected coronavirus in the country, and for everyone who has arrived or intends to come from China, a 14-day monitoring is carried out.

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