Diaz-Canel highlights the creation of an all-Cuban system for COVID-19 diagnosis

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 5 (ACN) The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and president of the country, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, highlighted today the creation of a diagnostic system to detect the COVID-19, 100 % Cuban-made.

In his message on Twitter, Cuba leader assured that the creation of the Umelisa SARS-COV-2 antigen, the name of the diagnostic system, is another achievement of Cuban science.

Granma reported in its article that the new biotechnological product, developed by the Immunoassay Center and validated by the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, is already ready to contribute to the diagnosis of suspects.

It pointed out that some 644 kits of Umelisa SARS-COV-2 antigen, which is integrated to the sanitary and detection protocols of the virus in the country, will soon be delivered to the Medicine Commercialization and Distribution Company (Emcomed by its Spanish acronym), after exhaustive tests of effectiveness.

Irina Valdivia Alvarez, deputy director of the Diagnostics Development and Production area, explained that this test, registered by the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices, identifies, in only four hours, the presence of the virus in asymptomatic suspect patients.

Quoted by Granma, Valdivia Alvarez explained that both the kit and the raw materials used for its development and production are entirely Cuban.

The Cuban newspaper added that some 826 kits are expected to be delivered by July 8 and more than 1,600 by July 15; with them, the Cuban health system will be able to count on more than 705,000 of these diagnostic tests.