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Wanted: Rapid, Portable Tests for Coronavirus

New devices may diagnose the virus in as few as 5 minutes. But in some cases, the government has slowed their development..





[size=20]To speed and improve coronavirus testing, groups around the world are working to make rapid tests that can be done on-the-spot and diagnose the presence of the virus in just minutes.

Yet some companies have faced delays as they await government approval for testing or commercialization. On 29 February, the U.S. government finally released new rules that speed the approval process for new diagnostic tests, which may help the field move forward.

“The big benefit of our test over the traditional molecular PCR test is speed, and also that it can be deployed at point-of-care,” says Kent Lupino, director of marketing at BioMedomics, which has a rapid COVID-19 test currently being used in China and Europe.

The test detects the body’s immune response to the virus from a few drops of blood in 15 minutes.

The company is in the process of seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use.

Jiangsu Medomics, the China-based sister company of BioMedomics, has already sold nearly 500,000 of the rapid tests in China, where they are being used at doctor’s offices, hospitals, and screening checkpoints, such as train stations and airports, says Lupino. The company does, however, recommend that a positive result from their rapid test be confirmed with a PCR test. BioMedomics currently has capacity to produce a million tests per week and could expand quickly, says Lupino.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)