Chinese scientists developed a new coronavirus test that is as accurate as the PCR laboratory test. This tool is claimed to be fast, it doesn't take long. The results will be out in just four minutes.
To note, the PCR test is widely considered the most accurate and sensitive for the virus that causes COVID-19. But this test still takes several hours to know the results.
Several countries are currently overwhelmed by the heavy demand for COVID-19 testing, driven by the explosive spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
So researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, say they have a solution. In a peer-reviewed article published Monday in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the team says their sensor, which uses microelectronics to analyze genetic material from swabs, could reduce the need for time-consuming COVID-19 laboratory tests.
"We applied an electromechanical biosensor to detect SARS-CoV-2 into an integrated and portable prototype device, and showed that it was detected (RNA virus) in less than four minutes," said the research team as quoted by the Japan Times.
The researchers say their method offers speed, ease of operation, high sensitivity and portability. Their trial involved taking samples from 33 people in Shanghai who were infected with the coronavirus, with PCR tests carried out in parallel.
According to the study, the results from their method matched well with the PCR test. Their study involved testing the new method on 54 samples, including people with fever who did not have the coronavirus, those with influenza, and healthy volunteers.
"Those cases did not produce false positive results," the team said.
The Fudan researchers say that once developed, their test device can be used for rapid testing in a variety of situations, including airports, healthcare facilities and even at home.
Not only does PCR testing take a long time, it also requires limited laboratory infrastructure in many countries, putting a strain on the number of cases that can be handled each day.
Although rapid diagnostic tests are now widely available, they are generally still not very accurate.