COVID Breath Test Gets It Right

Aug 21, 2020 by CenTrial



An innovative device developed in Israel identifies COVID-19 with just a breath test, eliminating lab processing, having to wait for results, and having to touch patients or samples.

In a clinical trial, the device was 100% accurate in identifying people who had coronavirus.

“You just blow into the device, which is the size of a smartphone, for 2 to 3 seconds, from a distance of 2 centimeters away,” says Prof. Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. “There are no accessories, it requires no lab processing, and it gives results within 30 seconds of blowing.”

Though current prototypes are hand-held, the final product will require no touching and will cost only two to three dollars per test.

Of the 140 people in the trial, it correctly identified the 49 of them that were confirmed coronavirus patients. Unfortunately, it also identified seven healthy people as being carriers, a problem also encountered with swab tests.

They hope to be able to bring the product to market within six months.

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