A UK firm has developed a test that can detect Coronavirus within 10 minutes and render both self-isolation and incubation unnecessary.
The test developed by SureScreen Diagnostics in Derby checks a patient’s blood in a simple procedure and shows up Coronavirus between three to seven days after infection – before symptoms begin to appear.
The test, which has an accuracy of 98.7% has been validated in China and is already being used in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Turkey, UAE, Kuwait and Oman.
SureScreen can produce up to 500,000 of the tests every week and believe they could have discovered a game-changer when it comes to the handling of the Coronavirus crisis.
Director David Campbell said: “We’ve been working hard to produce a coronavirus test (COVID19) that can be used at the patient side, with capillary blood, easily taken from someone’s fingertip and diagnose them within 10 minutes.
“There is a big problem with the diagnosis of the disease currently because the standard method of screening is to send samples to the laboratory, which takes a lot of time. Meanwhile, someone could be spreading the virus without knowing, or having the issue of self-isolation.
“I’ve only seen one other similar test which is made in China and only tests for one biomarker, whereas ours screens for two which increases the accuracy greatly (which can be seen in the clinical data.)
“Most test kits are a swab, which is used to sample sputum (oral mucous), which then gets sent back to the laboratory. This takes time and cost, and, meanwhile, the individual has to self-isolate.
“Our key differentiator is the speed and ease of use at the patient side without the need for big equipment or unnecessary isolation.
“Plus it’s a fraction of the cost against lab screening.
“It’s a product that is ready to go with clinical data behind it and already compared against real-world samples.
Approximately, 175,000 tests have been conducted with the SureScreen kit so far with potential orders for over two million over the next month.
Private companies are now moving to test their staff and one multinational oil and gas firm and a cruise liner firm have ordered supplies.
David added: ” It’s particularly powerful for businesses where they have a lot of international travel, as the disruption self-isolation, or spreading the infection can cause can have a bit impact on the business. We believe the test could be used in GPs, hospitals, airports, pharmacies, incubation centres, border controls, Occupational Health and in general screening programmes.
This was an article by Medilink EM Member, Surescreen Diagnostics.
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To read the associated SureScreen Diagnostics Whitepaper, click here