LONDON: Scottish scientists say they have developed a test that can determine whether someone has had coronavirus with 99.8 percent accuracy.
Switzerland-based blood screening company Quotient says its Edinburgh-based research team has developed a “fast and accurate” method of screening 36,000 people per day for coronavirus.
The machines, which have received European regulatory approval, can tell whether someone has contracted it by identifying antibodies in the blood that the body develops to fight the virus.
Individual tests take 35 minutes. The company currently has 12 machines, with another 20 anticipated by the end of the year.
“We are truly proud to have developed such a fast and accurate test,” said Franz Walt, chief executive of Quotient, who was managing director of the laboratory that developed the first test for the SARS virus in 2003.
Quotient joins other companies such as Roche, also based in Switzerland, in the race to develop reliable and scalable screening methods for the virus. Roche’s antibody test has received authorization for use in the US and Europe.
Countries worldwide are looking for efficient ways to test their populations for coronavirus. With more than 3.5 million confirmed cases so far, testing is key in the global fight against the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has previously implored countries to do more testing, saying: “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded, and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected.” He added: “We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test every suspected case.”