After being declared at Xiangzhou Customs, 500,000 test reagent kits manufactured by Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics were loaded onto a chartered flight destined for the Czech Republic in Central Europe on March 27.

The 15-minute tests were developed in only a couple of weeks and approved by the National Medical Products Administration on March 16.

Jinwan-based Livzon initiated R&D into COVID-19 test reagent kits in late December. The company quickly made the breakthrough in providing a high-throughput automatic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nucleic acid test solution. The IgM and IgG antibody test reagents, jointly developed with Wuhan Institute of Virology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, then entered the national emergency examination track on Feb 11.

Customs officials inspect reagent kit exports [Photo courtesy nanfangplus]

Both antibody test reagents, using a colloidal gold method to produce results within 15 minutes, can assist in early-stage diagnosis. With the rapid global spread of COVID-19, the company has witnessed a surge in overseas orders and is developing its business aboard.

The advance addresses the low efficiency of COVID-19 diagnosis caused by high-standard requirements for laboratory construction, complex experiments, and risk of infection by operators, according to Chu Xuntao, deputy general manager of Livzon.

Xiangzhou Customs assigned personnel to instruct the company's personnel in filling in declaration materials and also processed them online to ensure "zero-delay" customs clearance and release of these important exports.