An accurate rapid test for COVID-19 could be a game-changer when it comes to reopening borders – so you’ll be pleased to hear that an Australian company has developed technology that can detect infection in just three minutes.
Melbourne-based GreyScan has created a device that allows people to blow into a tube, with the filter then removed and tested. Results show up in a matter of minutes.
The company’s CEO, Samantha Ollerton, says the results from laboratory testing so far are “extremely promising”.
“The next phase for us is commercialisation and mass manufacture,” she told The Australian.
“We are doing the rounds, seeking government funding to help expedite the mass manufacture.”
The test is also able to determine how infectious someone is. Ollerton says while other companies are developing breath tests, the GreyScan device is the only one which focuses on levels of infection.
“What we do is ascertain the difference between a live virus and a dead virus, that’s really important because you can tell if someone’s exhaling the virus in their breath,” she said.
The device could be particularly useful for events with large crowds, at aged care homes, in airports and on planes.
“Imagine getting onto an airplane and having that feeling of, ‘does someone has COVID?’ – if you have a breathalyser test as you walk in, you know everyone who’s on that plane doesn’t have it,” GreyScan’s Medical Advisor Bruce Thompson told 7 News.
