By Sudip Kar-Gupta

Healthcare and clinical diagnostics company Novacyt, whose shares have surged on the back of its COVID-19 testing products, on Thursday announced the launch of three new products to support testing for the presence of the virus.

The names of the new products are Exsig(TM) Direct, Exsig(TM) Mag and COVID-HT, Novacyt said.

The announcement of Novacyt's latest COVID-19 testing products pushed the company's Paris-listed shares up by around 10% by 0710 GMT, with the stock having jumped by around 1,600% since the start of 2020.

"As we continue to supply our COVID-19 test to laboratories around the world, we are delighted to provide further support through the launch of these new products," CEO Graham Mullis said.

Novacyt has singled itself out with a test able to detect the new coronavirus in less than two hours. Standard testing, which also identifies other strains, takes up to a day.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)