A COVID-19 test that returns results in just over an hour and requires no laboratory, was developed by UK Cypriot Professor Chris Toumazou, an engineering professor at Imperial College London.
With a sensitivity of over 98% and specificity of 100%, the DnaNudge test is being rolled out in cancer wards, accident and emergency, and maternity departments, before possibly being used on a wider basis.
The department of health said it was a pilot scheme and that other lab-based tests were also being run in order to look at the benefits and capabilities of each test.
Britain made an initial order of 10,000 DnaNudge cartridges in March and has procured another 70,000 since.
Those in the UK will soon be able to buy the test amid plans to produce 300,000 a month, with delivery drivers dropping them off at homes.
It is believed companies will make use of the test to check staff before the head back into the office.
Professor Chris Toumazou, who developed the DnaNudge test, has explained how the test works: “It is a lab in a cartridge effectively. The key is that with this test you go straight from a saliva swap or a nasal swab into the cartridge with no transport and no laboratory.”
“This then goes into our nudge box… you close the box and within just over an hour the results will come through on your phone…You can even look at such small fragments of the RNA (Ribonucleic acid) that you can check whether a patient is coming out of it or going into Covid,” he continued.
It is currently being rolled out in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, West Middlesex University Hospital, St Mary’s, and at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital.
The price of the disposable cartridge tests is around £40.
