Vingroup presents COVID-19 breath testing system to Ministry of Health

Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup handed over novel coronavirus (COVID-19) breath testing system on June 4 worth over VND460 billion, equal to US$20 million, to the Ministry of Health (MoH) as part of efforts to defeat the ongoing pandemic.

Comprising 30 testing machines and disposable mouthpieces capable of collecting 2 million samples, the system will be transported to the country before August.

Originally developed by NUS start-up Breathonix, the technology has already been approved for use in Singapore. The breath test system features a disposable mouthpiece that is used to prevent cross-contamination and is able to detect COVID-19 in less than a minute.

Upon addressing the hand-over ceremony, Acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long acknowledged and praised the Vingroup’s contribution. Indeed, in just a short period time they were able to successful negotiate with Breathonix, a spin-off company of the National University of Singapore (NUS), in order to bring the system to the nation.

Individuals screened as positive according to the breath test will then have to undergo a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 swab test.

This comes after Vingroup had previously presented four million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Ministry, with the group also handing over VND20 billion to the MoH in support of clinical trials for the COVIVAC vaccine by IVAX.