COVID-19: Scientists develop sensors that can detect virus within 10 minutes

Scientists in the US have now developed a new type of COVID-19 test that uses multiple sensors to rapidly analyze small volumes of blood or saliva and produces results in less than 10 minutes. While the results of other coronavirus tests could take days before reaching the patient, these rapid sensors, when attached to the supportive device, could wirelessly transmit data to the user's cell phone through Bluetooth technology.

A team at California Institute of technology developed this multiplexed test with a low-cost sensor developed in the lab of Wei Gao, assistant professor in the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of medical engineering. Named, SARS-CoV-2 RapidPlex, the sensor contains antibodies and proteins that allow it to detect the presence of coronavirus, the antibodies created by the body to fight the pathogen as well as chemical markers of inflammation indicating the severity of the infection.  

So far, the device has been tested only in the lab with a small number of blood and saliva samples obtained for medical research purposes from individuals who have tested positive or negative for Covid-19. Talking about the sensor, researchers in the  study wrote, “This is the only telemedicine platform I've seen that can give information about the infection in three types of data with a single sensor.” The study has been published online and will appear in the December issue of the journal Matter.

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Feluda Test in India

Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General of India has approved the launch of an accurate and low-cost paper-based test strip to detect Covid-19. This test kit is being called the Feluda kit and is reportedly capable of detecting the virus in less than 30 minutes. The Feluda Kit has been developed by the researchers of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Tata Group research team, led by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti.

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Read: What Is Feluda Test? New COVID Test Kit Costs Only Rs 500, Read To Know More