(CNN) Scientists in Nigeria have developed a cheaper and faster Covid-19 test kit that will enable testing to be ramped up in a place that has faced kit shortages and chronic under-testing of a massive population, according to the country's health authorities. The new test is cheaper than other PCR tests -- the most common type of test -- and can give results in less than 40 minutes, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) said. The diagnostic test kit will cost less than $25 and samples can be analyzed using a mobile machine that can be operated by low-skilled personnel with minimal training, the agency said. "We saw the need for more testing outfits, especially one that can give results in a short time because hospitals were refusing to treat patients without Covid-19 results," Babatunde Salako, the director of NIMR, told CNN. We bought the machine and adapted the kit that we developed to work with this machine.

Source: CNN October 03, 2020 10:41 UTC