Scientists call on industry to roll-out rapid Covid-19 test
A molecular test and smartphone app that can tell people in 30 minutes if they have Covid-19 could be made available more quickly with help from industry.
The call has been made by researchers at Brunel University London and the Universities of Lancaster and Surrey. Once available, their device would let people self-isolating test themselves and health care workers test patients and themselves to slow the pandemic’s spread.
According to Brunel, the rapid test for Covid-19 device has been trialled in the Philippines to check chickens for viral infections and the team is adapting it to detect Covid-19 in humans.
“Now we know multiple genomes of Covid-19, we can develop the molecular test in a week and have it up and running on the device in three or four,” said Brunel’s Professor Wamadeva Balachandran. “We are confident it will respond well and rapidly need industrial partners to come on board. It will have a huge impact on the population at large.”
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