Deputy Minister of Defense Tran Don said on Thursday Cuba would in turn provide technology to produce antiviral drug interferon alfa-2b to Vietnam’s Army Medical Department in cooperation with the military university.

Speaking at a meeting with his ministry’s Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of Covid-19, he said a group of Cuban experts would come to assist Vietnam in fighting the pandemic.

"The General Logistics Department needs to instruct the university to complete procedures to export the test kits to Cuba."

The military’s medical units would continue to cooperate with Russia and the EU to study the disease and its treatment regime, vaccines and drugs, and help neighboring countries like Laos and Cambodia combat the disease, he added.

Last month the test kits developed by the military medical university collaboration with Viet A Technologies Joint Stock Company were recognized by the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure of the World Health Organization.

The EUL procedure was established to expedite availability of diagnostics needed during public health emergencies, and it helps procurement agencies and countries navigate the large presence of different devices on the market and access quality products.

The test kits, which utilize molecular biological technologies, have been mass-produced in Vietnam since March. They have been approved for sale in Europe.

Vietnam has had 288 Covid-19 cases, with the latest patients, diagnosed on Thursday evening, being 17 Vietnamese arriving from the UAE. There has been no community transmission in the last 22 days.

The number of active cases is 55.