Scientists in Oxford have developed a faster-acting test to establish whether patients are infected with the coronavirus. A team from the University of Oxford’s Engineering Science Department and the Oscar Suzhou Centre for Advance Research (OSCAR) have been working to improve upon the current process, which can take up to two hours to produce a result and requires specialised equipment.
The newly developed test produces highly accurate results in half an hour. Its sensitivity enables it to identify the virus earlier than can be achieved with the current test, and it only requires a standard heat block to work. This could be particularly beneficial in rural or more isolated areas without access to the complicated equipment needed currently as it facilitates testing in, for instance, community health centres.
The test has already been trialled on 16 clinical samples in Shenzhen Luohou People’s Hospital in China and achieved a 100% diagnostic success rate. It is hoped that it will be rolled out to testing clinics within the next two weeks. Read more
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