(14 Oct 2020) LEAD IN:
A Taiwanese company is developing a rapid COVID-19 test.
The test for SARS-CoV-2 uses an electrical chip and it's claimed it's able to give a result within three minutes.
STORY-LINE:
A Taiwanese company has designed what it claims is a high speed and accurate test for COVID-19 using electronic chips.
It says the test is able to provide a negative or positive result within three minutes.
It's a joint venture between Molsentech which makes semiconductors and Siprox, which developed the testing system.
The companies are aiming their design at international travellers at airports and train stations, people who want fast results to gain access to travel corridors at a time when quarantine requirements for different countries are changing all the time.
"The biggest advantage of this semiconductor chip is that it can obtain a very accurate result within three minutes. Of course, the RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) currently used is also very quick in obtaining a result, but all our procedure is automated, so we can avoid false positive and false negative results. Such effective and accurate results make it possible to shorten quarantine time for business travellers," says Molsentech's CEO Dr. Chu Chia-jung.
There are also research teams in Korea and America that are looking at using these sort of chips to offer a speedy way to detect the coronavirus.
According to the team here, the chip or biosensor is coated with a material that attracts and binds with the RNA of the virus. When they bond the flow of electrons through the circuit of the semiconductor changes, allowing them to detect a negative or positive result.
Chu Chia-jung says the system revolves around the basic concept of positive and negative charges, since the chip can detect changes in electric charges.
"The specimen it uses include the existing swabs, blood specimen for antibody tests, and also saliva. This means that anyone could extract specimen by himself/herself, and use the test machine alone, because the technical threshold is very low," she says.
Dr. Chen Chiidong, a research fellow at Taiwan's Academia Sinica's Institute of Physics, says the tests are useful when determining a simple positive or negative result.
Quantitative tests show different degrees of which people are infected or sick. But qualitative tests only show whether a person is infected or not.
"Quantitative tests are of course more complicated. But fortunately, for the COVID-19 tests, qualitative tests are acceptable, because we only need to know if a result is positive or negative. So, this system is making things very easy," says Chen.
Spirox's Chairman, Jack Chen believes the chip will make getting a test as easy as using a takeaway restaurant.
"This system would work in airports and train stations where people need to move in and out quickly to do quick tests. As I previously compared, it is similar to a 'Drive-Thu' at Mc Donald's. Vehicles do not need to stop. One just walks in to provide a specimen, completes a few formalities and when all the formalities are complete, the results are ready. Therefore, international travellers do not have to wait for for hours (to know their results)," says Chen.
The cost of a RT-PCR test, which is currently considered the most accurate, is about $270 (USD).
The team here believes semi-conductors will more than halve that cost to around $100 (USD).
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
