Covid test for high-street chemist use with results in minutes developed in Spain
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 @ 11:46 PM
SPAIN has created a test for diagnosing Covid-19 which produces accurate results in under 30 minutes, thanks to research funding into the virus from the European Commission.
According to project manager Laura Lechuga, the devices 'do not need technicians or laboratories' and can be used in local GP practices, in A&E, and even in high-street pharmacies.
At a time when cases of SARS-CoV-2 are rising rapidly in Spain's capital – over a third of 'positives' are in the Greater Madrid region – even though they are starting to tail off in coastal areas and out in the provinces, where they are being instantly contained and contacts quarantined, mass testing with quick results is set to be key in the battle against the pandemic.
Although Spain is immediately PCR-testing anyone who displays symptoms, anyone who has been within close proximity of a 'positive', and even, in many cases, everyone admitted to hospital or attending consultations or treatment for chronic health conditions, including where these are completely unrelated to Covid-19, it can take between 24 hours and five days for results to filter through.
This means those tested are forced to self-isolate at home until they get the all-clear, meaning they cannot go to work or school and, in the case of a household with several members, the whole family has to do likewise.
Whilst mass testing is largely responsible for soaring figures – seven in 10 of whom are asymptomatic and of whom the vast majority make a full recovery – being able to do so and obtain results within minutes is crucial to the population's being able to get on with their lives without putting others at risk.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com