China's national Medical Products Administration approved three new testing kits to detect the novel coronavirus on Saturday, according to the announcement published on its official website.

The three kits, including two antibody detection reagents and one nucleic acid detection reagent, expand the measures for detecting the novel coronavirus.

Differing coronavirus from flu a priority

The nucleic acid test kit, jointly developed by CapitalBio Corporation, Tsinghua University and West China Hospital of Sichuan University, can detect six common respiratory viruses including novel coronavirus within 1.5 hours by collecting samples of patients' oral and pharyngeal secretions, said the company.

The reagent by CapitalBio will help distinguish between influenza, novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), and parainfluenza, Zhong Nanshan, head of China's COVID-19 expert team, said during a tele-consultation with a medical team sent from Guangdong to Jingzhou, Hubei Province on Sunday.

There is now a substantial number of influenza cases in the United States with far more cases than COVID-19, and there are also flu cases in China, said Zhong. "It's imperative to distinguish between the flu and COVID-19."

The other two antibody detection reagents, through the easy colloidal gold method, are able to identify IgM antibodies, the first antibodies made by the body to fight a new infection.

Without special supporting instruments or cold chain storage, our kit can deliver results within 15 minutes, said one of the developers Wondfo.

The two test kits are helpful for quickly identifying the virus in a patient and for further diagnosis, said Zhong. "In particular in Hubei, a diagnosis can be made to identify if one is infected, and therefore help us to distinguish the normal from the sick."