LONDON : Researchers in the UK have designed a portable smartphone-based coronavirus testing kit which they say can provide results for COVID-19 in just 50 minutes after taking a throat swab.
Most current tests take 24-48 hours to provide results because they need to be sent to labs, noted the researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, who created the test to be rolled out to test National Health Service (NHS) staff in two weeks.
The new molecular test could be used to process 16 samples at a time -- or up to 384 samples if using a lab-based detection machine, they said.
The test kit aims to help self-isolating medical staff return to work as quickly as possible. And it will also ensure that those at work are not