Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Biotechnologists at the Center for Advanced Technologies under the Ministry of Innovative Development have developed a test system for the detection of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Dunyo news agency reported.

Uzbek scientists began work about a month ago, when, judging by the spread of the virus around the world, the danger of the virus in Uzbekistan became obvious. According to experts, the test system is based on PCR analysis (polymerase chain reaction) of three sections of the genome of the COVID-19 virus. This is a distinctive feature of the created test system, since the tests now available are based on the analysis of only one area.

“Our kit is designed in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,” says one of the developers, Doctor of Biological Sciences Alisher Abdullaev. - The sequence of the genome of the virus was determined in January by Chinese scientists, and it formed the basis of all the used test systems, including ours. According to WHO recommendations, first a coronavirus test is done as a primary test, and then to confirm it, it is necessary to conduct tests for two more parts of the COVID-19 genome. Well, the final stage consists in sequencing the detected strain - it is important to know this to determine the degree of virus mutation. Like any other fast-spreading virus, COVID-19 is susceptible to mutations.

In the process of creating a domestic test system, invaluable assistance was provided by the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington, which organized the prompt delivery of positive control samples produced in the USA.

“At the next stage, we need to register our test system, and we can start production,” said Shahlo Turdikulova, director of the Center for Advanced Technologies. - In our center there is a site for the production of diagnostic test systems on which one of our startups - BioTestLab, is now working. The startup is young, but we already have experience in such production.

To diagnose the disease, it is necessary to take a sample from the nasopharynx of a person, since it is there that the largest accumulation of the virus is observed. Next, virus RNA is isolated, converted to a DNA form and PCR analysis is performed - the whole procedure takes about 5-6 hours, this is not an express test, but a complete test that can only be used in specialized laboratories.