Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, a US-owned firm based in Vilnius, will provide coronavirus test kits for Lithuania, the government said in a press release on Monday.

The contract with the medical and scientific equipment producer was signed on March 20, the Lithuanian government said.



Some components will be produced in Lithuania, while the the remaining parts will be brought to Lithuania from several other foreign countries.

"This is great news for us, especially given the difficulties we are facing today both in procuring test kits and in bringing them from abroad," Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said in the press release.

The government aims to make the test kits available for Lithuanian health workers starting next week. However, it will depend on how quickly the necessary equipment and components will be delivered from abroad.



The kits will allow to perform up to 2,000 tests a day, and analyse 450 samples at a time.



CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that the "US firm will produce" the test kits.