7 April
Xerox Holdings Corporation has partnered with Vortran Medical Technology to accelerate and scale the manufacturing of Vortran’s GO2Vent ventilator and related Airway Pressure Monitor (APM-Plus). This is expected to help hospitals and emergency response units tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. The companies expect to manufacture around one million ventilators in the next few months.
Co-Diagnostics has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Covid-19 diagnostic test. Logix Smart Coronavirus COVID-19 Test has received the certification under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). The test uses the CoPrimer technology patented by the company to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s RdRp gene.
Some hospitals in North America have started using MediPines AGM100, a portable gas exchange monitor to assess, triage and treat Covid-19 patients. The monitor has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration and it uses proven medical methods and advanced technology to measure the degree of respiratory impairment in a patient.
Chinese company BGI has partnered with Israeli AID Genomics for the construction of an emergency testing laboratory in Gaza. The Israeli and Palestinian authorities have given their approval to the companies to carry out 3,000 tests each day for Covid-19 for residents of Gaza. As one of the most prominent suppliers of PCR tests for Covid-19, BGI will carry out the testing using its HuoYan Labs solution. The company has carried out over 500,000 tests for Covid-19 in China.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic that has led to a shortage of respirators, the US Government and 3M have planned to import 166.5 million respirators in the next three months. 3M and the Trump Administration worked together to ensure that this plan does not lead to further humanitarian implications for countries currently fighting the pandemic, and committed to further collaborate to fight price gouging and counterfeiting.
A multicentre study in South Korea has found that surgical and cotton masks are not effective at preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from spreading through the coughs of an infected patient. Prior evidence that surgical masks could help prevent the spread of influenza meant that their use was recommended alongside that of N95 masks. Due to shortages of both, clinicians and patients alike have been using cotton masks as well.
