Novacyt announced that its Primerdesign molecular diagnostics division sold and received orders for more than $10.1 million (£8.7 million) of its COVID-19 tests.

The company’s United Kingdom–based molecular diagnostics arm offered the update on its CE-Marked, research-use-only coronavirus tests, having previously announced that it sold and received orders for over $5 million of its tests earlier this month.

Novacyt said in a news release that the total represents about 18 months of total sales for the division under standard circumstances and already exceeds its total sales numbers from 2019. The company added that its whole staff and its recently appointed manufacturing partner are working at full capacity to fulfill the demand for the coronavirus test.

The company said that while it can’t predict the conversion rate of the current inquiries into orders, it is taking further action to increase its manufacturing capacity. A previous announcement shared an agreement with a third-party manufacturer to support demand of about 2 million coronavirus tests per month. That has made progress and expects the first batches of product from the manufacturer to be delivered to customers within the week.

Additionally, Novacyt has purchased additional raw materials so it can produce more than 5 million COVID-19 tests. The company is also in advanced discussions with another third-party manufacturer to further expand its production capacity.

“Earlier this month, I reported we were seeing unprecedented interest and demand for our COVID-19 test,” Novacyt CEO Graham Mullis said in the news release. “The sales and orders we have achieved in a period of just six weeks support this statement. I reiterate our view that commercial demand for our COVID-19 test will continue for some months to come. Therefore, the additional steps we are taking to meet this demand are essential to support governments and health providers around the world in tackling this virus.”