Extensive testing has been cited as a reason for South Korea's success in controlling coronavirus outbreaks. However, many other countries do not test at such high rates. In New York City, USA, due to a lack of key testing materials, health care providers do not test patients if they do not have symptoms.
The new COVID-19 home testing kit uses a hand-held battery-operated device that costs about $120 and an individual swab kit that costs about $5. [The researchers explained that a set of six swabs is inserted into the device and results are returned from a smartphone app 30 minutes later. Therefore, the swabs do not need to be processed in the lab and the lab could be backed up.
If someone tests positive for COVID-19, the researchers claim that the app will track and alert all persons who have had close contact with that person in the past 14 days.
The test is also portable and does not require a laboratory, so it can be used by people who self-quarantine or in remote areas with limited access to medical care.
It is unclear when this test will be available in the UK, US, or worldwide. In the UK, approval is required from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US. [Professor Wamadeva Balachandran of Brunel University London said, "Under normal circumstances, something like this would have to go through clinical trials. But this is not a normal situation."
The professor added that time to stop the spread of the virus is limited and speed is of the essence. Said Prof. Balachandran, "With the help of local hospitals, we aim to do a limited number of tests with available positive and negative samples."
Comments