Sergejs Nikisins (L), chief laboratory specialist of Riga Eastern University Hospital, receives novel coronavirus test kits donated by China during a presentation at Riga Eastern University Hospital in Riga, Latvia, April 17, 2020. A consignment of 20 novel coronavirus test kits donated by China was delivered to Latvia on Friday, according to the Chinese Embassy to Latvia. The kits for 1,000 tests were delivered to Riga and handed over to Riga Eastern University Hospital where COVID-19 patients are treated at the hospital's center for infectious diseases. (Photo by Janis/Xinhua)

A consignment of 20 novel coronavirus test kits donated by China was delivered to Latvia on Friday, according to the Chinese Embassy in Latvia.

The donation has been arranged by the Chinese Embassy, the Latvian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health as well as the Mammoth Foundation in Shenzhen.

The testing technology used in these BGI kits provides results within three hours. The kits for 1,000 tests were delivered to the Latvian capital of Riga and handed over to Riga Eastern University Hospital where COVID-19 patients are treated at the hospital's center for infectious diseases.

Receiving the Chinese donation, the hospital's chief laboratory specialist Dr. Sergejs Nikisins thanked the Mammoth Foundation and BGI Group, a world-leading genomics company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, for their friendly donations during this difficult time, emphasizing that this batch of test materials will play an important role in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic in Latvia.

By Friday noon, a total of 32,837 people in Latvia had been tested for the novel coronavirus, of which 682 tested positive. Five patients have so far died and 88 recovered.