People wearing protective face masks walk on the street under a nationwide state of emergency as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in Tokyo, Japan May 10, 2020. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO: Japan plans to approve its first COVID-19 antigen testing kits on Wednesday , a health ministry official said, in a move to boost the number of diagnostic tests available to battle the pandemic.
Fujirebio, a subsidiary of Japanese diagnostics and laboratory testing service provider Miraca Holdings, last month applied for government approval for its antigen kit.Antigen tests scan for proteins that can be found on or inside a virus. They typically test a sample taken from a nasal cavity using swabs. The tests can detect the virus quickly but produce false negatives at a higher rate than the currently dominant PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests.
Japan has reported about 16,680 confirmed infections, including 712 from the cruise ship previously quarantined in Yokohama, and 670 deaths to date, public broadcaster NHK said.
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