French researchers develop COVID test that gives results like USB device

The anxiety one experiences while waiting for coronavirus test results is unbearable, and to curb that a group of French researchers have developed a COVID-19 test that can give results three times faster.

This newly-created electrochemical test, according to initial trial data, can deliver coronavirus test results three times faster than rapid lateral flow antigen tests with the same accuracy, but slower PCR tests.

Also read| This 105-year-old beat COVID. She credits gin-soaked raisins.

Known as CorDial-1, the test has been approved for use even though the initial trials on 300 samples showed a 90 per cent accuracy rate.

Other than the speed of the test, another major advantage of this new test is that it does not require a lab atmosphere to study the results. While the PCR test typically takes hours and needs a laboratory setting to read the result, this can simply be used on a smartphone.

The testing apparatus resembles a large USB stick that can be plugged into a smartphone leading to a signal to show up on the screen in form of a graph.

Also read| COVID-19 patients may not get back sense of taste and smell for months: Study

"Depending on the height of the signal, you can say if you are COVID positive or negative," said Sabine Szunerits, of the University of Lille, who is working on the project with scientists at the University of Marseille and the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

The next step for this project is to run a three-month trial on more than 1,000 people. 

However, scientists from around the world have praised the efforts and have shown confidence in the portability feature of the device.