Scientists call on manufacturers for rapid roll-out of Covid-19 self-test

Scientists have urged industry to help them to produce a smartphone app and molecular test that can ascertain whether someone has the Covid-19 virus in around 30 minutes. The test would allow those self-isolating to test themselves and healthcare workers to test themselves and patients to help slow down the spread of the pandemic and its burden on the health service.

The testing kit, which was developed by researchers at London's Brunel University, Lancaster University and the University of Surrey, links to a smartphone app to detect the presence of the virus.

The science behind the testing device has already been evaluated in the Philippines where chickens were tested for viral infections. The team has adapted the kit to detect coronavirus in humans and backers are urgently needed in order to get it mass-produced.

“Now we know multiple genomes of Covid-19, we can develop the molecular test in a week and have it up and running on the device in three or four,” said Brunel University London’s Professor Wamadeva Balachandran.

“We are confident it will respond well and rapidly need industrial partners to come on board. It will have a huge impact on the population at large.”

The battery-operated hand-held smartphone linked device is easy to use and works by taking nasal or throat swabs, which are put into the device. Then in 30 to 45 minutes, it can tell if someone has the coronavirus without the need for samples to be sent to a laboratory. The same device can test six people at once.

The team is also working on a telemedicine functionality for the phone app, which can control the device, track users' movements with permission and contact people who have been in close contact with the diagnosed person to suggest steps to reduce further infection and spread.

It would cost about £100 to mass-produce and about £25 to run samples. 

“Normally, anything like this would have to go through clinical trials,” said Professor  Balachandran. “But this is not a normal situation. According to the Imperial College model, this might last for 18 months. And cases will rise over the next few months. Everyone is crying out for these tests, and many will take a long time. We haven’t got a long time, so anything like this is going to help. Speed is essential. With local hospitals’ help, we aim to do a limited amount of tests with available positive and negative samples.” 

The idea behind the kit is to try and make it cheaper than other tests so it can be used in homes across the world. Once the infection is identified, the system could track down people who have been in close contact with the patient in the last 14 days and alert them about the threat of the virus, as well as give advice on what to do next.

Professor Roberto La Ragione, Deputy Head of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the development of rapid diagnostic tools for Covid-19. With a rapid response from manufacturers, we could deliver a point-of-care test kit to support mass-scale testing within the NHS and globally." 

“The team strongly believes that with our combined expertise, we will be able to make this device and its associated system available for adoption within a few weeks and take a step closer to beating Covid-19,” said Molecular Virologist Dr Muhammad Munir at Lancaster University. 

Manufacturers can contact wamadeva.balachandran@brunel.ac.uk to get involved.

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