Ukraine to distribute 200,000 COVID-19 tests to its regions

The first large batch of 200,000 Ukraine-made PCR tests for COVID-19 diagnosis will be delivered to laboratories around the country during the weekend of April 25-26, according to the President’s Office.

PCR tests use polymerase chain reaction analysis to check the patient’s cells for ribonucleic acid, or RNA, from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

So far it is the most accurate method for detecting the novel coronavirus that the World Health Organization recommends.

Ukraine has performed 83,577 of such PCR tests as of April 25. The vast majority of these test systems came to Ukraine from abroad while scientists here were busy producing and testing their own PCR kits.

“I believe, that this is a very good sign when Ukraine produced home-made PCR tests. We did not buy them from China or Korea, but we make diagnostics with Ukraine-made PCR tests,” said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a secretary of the COVID-19 Coordination Commission in a statement the President’s Office released on April 24.

These 200,000 tests were produced on a state order by a Kyiv-based private laboratory called Ukrainian Genetic Technologies (Ukrgentech), Ukraine’s Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov said during a morning briefing on April 25.

“I am very pleased that this is a Ukrainian producer that manufactures such PCR tests,” Stepanov said.

During the weekend of April 25-26, Ukrgentech will give to the state another batch of 250,000 tests, according to Stepanov.

A co-founder and a chief biologist at Ukrgentech Bijan Sharopov told the Kyiv Post that yesterday the laboratory worked extra hours.

“We did not sleep last night…but that was because we were asked to make the first batch fast and meet the deadline,” said Bijan Sharopov, chief biologist at Ukrgentech.

“We are back to normal mode now,” he said.

There were some challenges with the raw materials needed for tests’ production, Sharopov said. Ukraine does not produce them so the laboratory had to buy them from abroad.

“It was being delivered slowly and then went through customs…We spent quite a bit of time to sort this out and to test whether these raw materials are of suitable quality,” he said.

On April 4, Tymoshenko announced that the Ukrainian authorities had ordered 2 million PCR tests from local producers. He said, that home-made tests are cheaper than foreign ones. They cost roughly Hr 200-250 ($7-10) depending on the producer.

However, Ukraine does not totally rely on domestic production. 800,000 reagents for PCR tests will arrive in Ukraine from China “within days,” Tymoshenko said on April 24.

Three Ukrainian laboratories were competing the get the state order: state Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and two private ones Diagen and Ukrgentech.

Ukrgentech said that their tests appeared to be cheaper than ones of their competitors.