As the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic spreads to more regions of the world, efforts to fight it have been increased multifold across the globe. Since there is no vaccine for the disease as yet, a major part of this fight is to detect the virus in a host at an early stage.
Typically the tests for this take a day to confer the result. A team of medical researchers now says that it will be able to do so in mere ten minutes.
U.K.-based Mologic Ltd., in collaboration with Senegalese research foundation Institut Pasteur de Dakar is working on a method that will be accurately able to tell the result of a test for Coronavirus within ten minutes. It should, however, be noted that the said testing kit is still in development and is expected to take three months’ time.
Another aspect that increases the accessibility to these kits like never before is the fact that Mologic is using existing technology related to home pregnancy and malaria tests to make the Coronavirus testing kits. The use of saliva and finger-prick kit also brings the cost of the kits down to less than $1 a piece.
The cost will remain as this for the end users as well. Mologic received a $1.2 million grant from the U.K. government to develop the test and now being manufactured in Senegal by diaTropix, the kits will of course be available at a zero profit cost to those needing it.
Mologic is not the only company in pursuit of a faster testing kit for the virus. An Irish company by the name of Assay Genie is just about to release its own COVID-19 Coronavirus testing kits which claim to provide results for the tests within 15 minutes.
Even in this case, the tests use the same technology as used in pregnancy tests. Still in testing phase, the rapid POC (Point of Care) kit will be released globally within weeks and will use just one drop of blood to drastically accelerate the detection of the virus.
The prevalent tests for Coronavirus, known as PCR tests, are able to detect the pathogen in a closed, laboratory setup, taking several hours in the process and costing a considerable amount too. While sufficient to handle a regular set of suspected hosts, the labs and the method will fall short with a?surge in suspected cases, as has been seen in many countries.
Countries seem to be battling against the two limitations here. One, to set up the testing laboratories as per the need in vast numbers and across regions. Second to bring the cost down. Such testing methods work in both the ways in our favour and can prove to be the ultimate weapon in the fight against COVID-19 once released.