‘Most advanced coronavirus kits’ arrive today from China

The first batch of the "most advanced kits" to detect the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 donated by China will arrive home on Tuesday afternoon.

"The kits will arrive by a flight of China Airlines at around 3:30pm today," said Yan Hualong, Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister (Counsellor) of Chinese Embassy.

China is giving 500 sets of what it calls, the "most advanced kits", to Bangladesh to identify coronavirus as a gesture of goodwill and strong faith that Bangladesh has in China in winning the battle against COVID-19.

"Even at its most difficult times, China never forgets to lend a helping hand," Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said at a meeting with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

He said the embassy just ordered 500 test kits from Beijing Genomics Institute to enhance Bangladesh's capacity to detect coronavirus. The kits will be handed over to Bangladesh on Tuesday.

"These are real-time fluorescent RT-PCR kits for detecting the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and are the first such donation to any country from China," Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister (Counsellor) of the Embassy Yan Hualong told UNB after the meeting.

He said more such kits will be provided if any case is confirmed in Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister Momen said China has been very helpful to Bangladesh throughout the process and recalled Chinese government's support in bringing back 312 Bangladesh nationals from Wuhan city, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Mainland China reported 1,886 new virus cases and 98 more deaths for a total of 1,868 in its update Tuesday.

The latest figures come after health officials in China published the first details on nearly 45,000 cases of infection with the coronavirus that originated there, saying more than 80% have been mild and new ones seem to be falling since early this month.

A total of 72,436 cases have been reported in mainland China as of Tuesday, although a spike in recent cases was due to a broader definition in the hardest-hit region based on doctors' diagnoses before laboratory tests were completed.