Kyoto, April 10 (Jiji Press)–Japanese precision equipment maker Shimadzu Corp. <7701> said Friday that it will release on April 20 a one-hour test kit for the novel coronavirus, compared with existing ones that take two or more hours.
   

The company will initially supply the new test kit to medical institutions and testing companies in Japan, while aiming to start exports in May or later.
   

The new product will reduce the time and labor required to conduct polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests by avoiding work to extract the virus’ RNA from the specimen being tested.
   

The test kit is priced at 225,000 yen a set for 100 specimens. Shimadzu plans to produce it at a monthly volume worth 100,000 specimens.