A Tel Aviv hospital has begun using a coronavirus test-kit that delivers results in less than 90 minutes.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv had begun rolling out the testing kits, which use American technology, on Wednesday.

Hanoh Goldschmidt, the head of the Laboratory Department at the Ichilov Hospital told Israel’s Channel 12: “It is an advanced and reliable technology that gives hospitals the opportunity to get the result back from a coronavirus test in fewer than 90 minutes.”

The speedy turnaround is possible because all steps of the testing process being conducted in one place.

“This unit takes each individual sample and passes it via production, processing and decoding steps,” Dr Goldschmidt explained.

This model of testing allows a small number to be conducted in a short period, rather than a larger number over a longer time span, but Channel 12 said the cost of the tests is some four times greater than that of mass sampling technology.

As a result, they will be used only in particularly important areas of the hospital, such as maternity wards, accident and emergency units, and for testing admitted patients.

On Thursday, the Israeli Health and Defence Ministries announed that they had closed a deal with Israeli firm MyHeritage to perform 10,000 tests per day.

As of Friday, the confirmed number of coronavirus cases in Israel stood at 14,882 and the death toll at 193.