24 January 2020 - - US-based molecular diagnostics company Co-Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) has completed principle design work for a PCR screening test for new coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, intended to address potential need for detection of the virus, the company said.

An outbreak of respiratory illness caused by the pneumonia-like 2019-nCoV has spread rapidly over the past two weeks, after first being discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan on December 31.

China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the virus on January 20, and the United States announced the first infection in this country on January 21, detected in a traveler returning from Wuhan. Recently, a soft quarantine has effectively been placed on Wuhan, warning people to not travel to or from the city.

The new test features the company's patented CoPrimer technology, and was designed using its proprietary software system, following the guidelines published by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control.

Co-Diagnostics, Inc., a Utah corporation, is a molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures and markets a new, state-of-the-art diagnostics technology.

The company's technology is utilised for tests that are designed using the detection and/or analysis of nucleic acid molecules (DNA or RNA).

The company also uses its proprietary technology to design specific tests to locate genetic markers for use in industries other than infectious disease and license the use of those tests to specific customers.