COVID-19 antigen self-test kits are loaded onto a truck bound for Changchun, capital of Jilin province, which is hardest hit by the most recent outbreak of COVID-19. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

A truck loaded with 10,000 COVID-19 antigen self-test kits departed from Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province on March 20 for Changchun, capital of Jilin province, which is hardest hit by the most recent outbreak of COVID-19.

The kits, which can be used as a supplement to nucleic acid detection, which is still the primary diagnostic tool for COVID-19, were donated by Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech Co Ltd.

Headquartered in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, the company has recently become the first in Zhejiang to obtain approval from the National Medical Products Administration to sell -19 antigen self-test kits, according to a notice published on the company's website.

The donations are expected to arrive in Changchun on March 21 and help accelerate the city's massive epidemiological screening push.

Positive test results presented by the kits cannot be used as the sole diagnostic basis for confirmed COVID-19 infections. Further nucleic acid testing will be done before a final diagnosis. People who tested positive using the self-test kits should stay put and isolate themselves from their families while they wait for medical professionals to collect their samples, said local authorities.

Jilin province reported 1,542 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 549 local asymptomatic carriers Sunday.

Orient Gene is capable of producing over 10 million self-test kits daily and has received an order of 200,000 such kits from the Anji government to prevent a possible resurgence of the epidemic during the county's approaching tea harvest season.

A total of 100,000 self-test kits have been distributed so far to towns and sub-districts in the county, which will be also used by tea pickers outside Zhejiang.