For patients with early respiratory symptoms, two or more tests used to be required to accurately rule out the possibility of being infected by the influenza virus or the novel coronavirus. The kit, which can distinguish the two viruses using a single sample, not only improves efficiency and cuts cost by up to 50 percent, but also eases the fear and worries of patients, said Xiong.

The combined kit was the first of its kind to be based on a fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction platform. It was granted domestic market approval by the National Medical Products Administration on Aug 16, the company said.