New COVID-19 test ‘as accurate as PCR’; gives result in 4 minutes

Beijing: Chinese scientists say they have developed a new COVID-19 testing kit that can return accurate results within four minutes and is ‘as accurate as the widely used Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests’. 

The PCR tests are widely considered the most accurate for the virus that causes COVID-19, but they usually take several hours. 

Several countries have experienced severe backlogs in the face of heavy testing demand—fuelled by the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.  

Chinese researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai said that they have a solution.

In a peer-reviewed article published Monday in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the team of researchers stated that their sensor—which uses microelectronics to analyze genetic material from swabs can reduce the need for time-consuming COVID lab tests. 

"We implemented an electromechanical biosensor for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 into an integrated and portable prototype device, and show that it detected (virus RNA) in less than four minutes," said team in the paper—referring to the official name of the Covid pathogen.  

As per scientists familiar with the new COVID testing device, the 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 conducted in parallel. 

As per article, the results from their method were a "perfect" match with the PCR tests.

Their study involved testing the new method on 54 samples, which included people with fever who did not have the coronavirus, those with influenza, and healthy volunteers. 

Those cases did not yield any false positives, the team added.

Once developed, the testing device can be used for quick testing in a variety of situations, including airports, health facilities and "even at home". 

PCR tests are not only slow, but they also require lab infrastructure that can be limited in many countries, reducing the number of cases that can be handled each day. 

Notably, China is one of the world's biggest makers of COVID-19 test kits. 

According to customs data, the Asian country exported $1.6 billion worth of test kits in December, a 144 percent increase from the previous month.