17.03.2020, Prime
MOSCOW, Mar 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) plans to receive a permit for the use of new COVID-19 tests in Europe this week, the fund will also send an application to the U.S. Health Department, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday citing CEO Kirill Dmitriev.
“We will disclose (the name of our Japanese partner) tomorrow as today we are obtaining a permit to use the tests in Russia…We have already secured permits for using them in a Middle Eastern state, and expect a permit from Europe this week. We will also send an application to the U.S. Health Department this week,” he said.
On Monday, Dmitriev said that the fund and its Japanese partners would start testing new generation 30-minute COVID-19 tests in Moscow and the Moscow Region in April and that full-scale testing would begin in May.
The tests use the SmartAmp isothermal molecular diagnostics method that is as precise as the currently used polymerase chain reaction method, but is much faster and does not require a fixed-site laboratory.
Dmitriev also said that global economic recession is highly likely amid the spread of coronavirus, but added that Russia is ready to weather the crisis.