Singaporean company develops rapid test kit which can detect COVID-19 in minutes
The current testing done to confirm patients with COVID-19 requires laboratory specialists, dedicated medical testing equipment and a few hours of waiting. However, a Singapore-based firm, Biolidics Limited (Biolidics), has fortunately come up with a rapid test kit which can detect the coronavirus in less than 10 minutes, with an accuracy of more than 95% using serum, plasma or whole blood samples. The first batch of kits is expected to be available by next month.
According to Biolidics, the rapid test kit is easy to use and can enable more effective and efficient decentralised screening among suspected COVID-19 patients. Dr. Leong Man Chun, Biolidics’ interim CEO, insists that testing for the coronavirus is vital to “track and contain the pandemic which has spread rapidly across the world”.
Dr. Leong said the kit can enable “point-of-care testing for a larger pool of clusters, guide treatment decisions and further enhance public safety measures.”The kits can be deployed to points of border entry as well.
Singapore, so far, has recorded over 900 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths. Of these, some 200 people have been discharged from the hospitals and community isolation facilities where they were treated.
Meanwhile, Biolidics claims it had been working to obtain the relevant approval and authorisation from various health authorities in the region for the use of the rapid test kit – it has received provisional authorisation from the Health Sciences Authority for the test kits to be used in Singapore and soon expects the test kits to be used in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
