Chinese scientists confident new Covid-19 test can offer cheap, fast and effective alternative
- The team from Wuhan University said the test has a higher accuracy rate than antigen tests and is quicker than nucleic acid tests
- Rapid mass testing could help outbreaks by catching most cases quickly
Since the emergence of the highly infectious and fast spreading Omicron variant, the demand for a rapid and accurate Covid-19 test has become an essential strategy to contain the pandemic. Antigen tests, which have an accuracy rate of about 81 per cent, are commonly used for home testing.
However, they are only sensitive to specimens that come with a relatively high viral load, leaving it vulnerable for asymptomatic cases, according to Yin Hao of Wuhan University’s medical research institute who led the new research.
The researchers said the new test – known as sPAMC, or suboptimal protospacer adjacent motifs – has an accuracy rate of 94.2 per cent, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
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They wrote that it had detected 98 out of 104 coronavirus positive specimens among a total pool of 204 throat swab samples and the result can be generated in under 20 minutes, roughly the same time required for antigen tests and does not need the expensive equipment and skilled personnel required for PCR tests.
According to Yin, the new test offers a rapid, flexible and sensitive diagnostic solution that is critical in controlling the pandemic by capturing most infected cases.
Yin expects it will take about nine months to a year for the test to be approved for clinical use.
“Our challenge now is about finding ways to make the technology stable enough for mass clinical trials, mass and rapid production as well as good cost control,” Yin said.
The cost of sPAMC remains unknown as it depends on the supply chain and quality control but Yin believes it could be used in places like railway stations and airports.
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“Nucleic tests require specimens to be delivered to a laboratory and it takes at least four hours to get a report, whereas sPAMC can be done in one-step without expensive laboratory equipment, making it suitable for fast and accurate detection,” Yin said.
As of this week, China has approved a total of 20 different Covid-19 antigen test products, according to People’s Daily.
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