Saudi Hospital Develops Diagnostic Test for COVID-19

A Saudi research team at the Research Center of King Faisal Specialist Hospital developed a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus. (SPA)
A Saudi research team at the Research Center of King Faisal Specialist Hospital developed a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus. (SPA)
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Saudi Hospital Develops Diagnostic Test for COVID-19

A Saudi research team at the Research Center of King Faisal Specialist Hospital developed a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus. (SPA)
A Saudi research team at the Research Center of King Faisal Specialist Hospital developed a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus. (SPA)

A Saudi research team at the Research Center of King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) developed a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 that has been approved by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.

The test uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which produces multiple copies of a single strand of DNA and has become the most common basis for coronavirus tests.

Dr. Ali S. Alzahrani, the Executive Director of the Research Center at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, says the development of the test complied with precise laboratory-science standards and that all of the validation stages were surpassed after its results matched those of the hospital's primary diagnostic laboratory.

He added that the hospital is equipped with a Primer device, the foundation of the PCR tests that detect the virus. The research team was led by Dr. Ahmed Al-Qahtani and Dr. Fatimah S. Alhamlan, both of whom are microbiology researchers.

Dr. Majed Al-Fayyad, the Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (Gen. Org.), paid tribute to the research team that designed and developed the test, which allows the hospital to rely on a local product when conducting required tests of laboratory samples.

This achievement forms a bulwark against problems that the hospital may face in the event of a national or global shortage of commercially manufactured products, a serious concern given the high demand for these products in light of the epidemic's persistence.

He also added that the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center is ready to produce primers for local laboratories and to share the protocol with local and Gulf laboratories in order to confront a shortage of commercial solutions.



Source: Trump to Make English Official US Language

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the White House, February 27, 2025 in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the White House, February 27, 2025 in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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20

Source: Trump to Make English Official US Language

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the White House, February 27, 2025 in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the White House, February 27, 2025 in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to make English the official US language, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The source did not provide a timing for the signing of the order, first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The United States has never had an official language at the federal level but the issue has been problematic for certain states, Reuters reported.
The use of Spanish in public life has sparked controversy over the years, including in Texas, where a state senator in 2011 demanded that an immigrant rights activist speak English not his native Spanish at a legislative hearing.
That rekindled a decades-old debate over whether it is proper to speak Spanish in Texas, which was once a part of Mexico and, before that, a part of the Spanish Empire.
The issue has been painful for many older Mexican-American Texans who recall being punished for speaking Spanish in school in the 1950s.