New low-cost COVID-19 test kit unveiled

[webfact]

New low-cost COVID-19 test kit unveiled

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) has unveiled a 90% accurate COVID-19 testing kit that can be produced for only hundreds of baht per set, to be used with Special Tourist Visa (STV) visitors.

 

Interim Director-General of DMS Dr. Supakij Sirilak explained that after successfully decoding COVID-19 DNA, through collaboration with researchers in China, the department is now able to produce Real-Time RT-PCR kits, testing apparatus for the coronavirus accepted by the World Health Organization.

 

The kits are Thailand’s first to identify both IgM and IgG anti-bodies of SARS-CoV-2. They use immunochromatography to test plasma and blood from a patient’s fingertip and have an accuracy rate of 90%. They are currently pending registration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and will be used with 60,000 Thais once processed to discern the country’s risk level.

 

The technology is to be passed on to the private sector to reduce capital cost to only slightly above 100 baht per kit, as imported kits cost 300-500 baht per unit. They are to be particularly crucial once state mandated quarantine is reduced from 14 to 10 days and should benefit STV tourists.

 

The development is a breakthrough by the 1-Lab-1-Province 100 Laboratories program, which has validated 236 labs across the nation, 157 operated by the state and 79 by the private sector.

 

DMS has also created a test kit for COVID-19 contamination on product packaging and food sets to be used on imported fruit and vegetables.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-11-09

 

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[oldhippy]

Great news if true.

And only 100 baht.

[Grumpy John]

This is the same topic as posted the other day pretty much verbatim.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, Grumpy John said:

This is the same topic as posted the other day pretty much verbatim.

True, and please note the report says 90% accurate. I would have reservations about using it.

 

Note it's designed for use in the new Chinese tourism scenario, so I wonder if the test/the result would be accepted in other international travel scenarios. 

[scorecard]

Just now, scorecard said:

True. Please note the report says 90% accurate so I would have reservations about using it.

 

Note it's designed for use in the new Chinese tourism scenario, so I wonder if the test/the result would be accepted in other international travel scenarios. 

 

 

[Proboscis]

The big question is how effective is it. As our British chums are finding, the quick turn-around test they are using is not very effective (meaning that it misses more than 30% of infectious cases).

[Inepto Cracy]

10 Baht new test from China...

 

[nobodysfriend]

How fast is it ?

How much time the new test needs to determine if someone has become infected or not ?

That is as important as it's accuracy .

[Lemonltr]

This is a very infectious disease and dangerous for old people. 90% accuracy is therefore useless. 10% chance of being wrong is huge and could have serious consequences. 

[ukrules]

90% accurate - that's a massive problem

[nobodysfriend]

I just read this on Reuters :

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-food/chinas-tianjin-to-test-cold-storage-food-sites-after-confirmed-coronavirus-case-idUSKBN27O0ER

 

---> The case was discovered after Dezhou city in the eastern Shandong province informed Tianjin on Saturday that the outer packaging of a batch of German pork had tested positive for coronavirus.

Separately, Taiyuan city in China’s northern Shanxi province on Saturday said frozen belt fish imported into Tianjin from India had tested positive for the virus, state media reported on Sunday. < ----

Multiple cold chain products imported into China have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent months.

 

So it survives on frozen food , or , at least the outer packaging of it ... ?

Somebody accused me of ' scaremongering ' , but I just show what happens in reality .

Think and do what is right for you .

 

[sammieuk1]

Low cost, farang, STV, can't be true ????

[richard_smith237]

Something is a-miss here... 

 

Covid-19 RT PCR tests rely on swabs taken from the Nasal and oral cavities of a patient. Proteins and fats are removed form the sample. The remaining RNA is that of the patient and any virus. Identification of the Virus RNA is made after reverse transcribing the RNA strands to DNA and cycling through heat to trigger specific chemical reactions and DNA replication making identification easier (using dye) - tests are suspected (as reported in the Lancet) to record between a 0.8% and 4.0% false positive. 

 

Antigen tests take blood / plasma samples and isolate skeletal remains of RNA - i.e. remains of past infection. 

 

 

IF I am not mistaken - The Antigen tests can isolate a patient who has had Covid-19 (and still carries antigens). 

 

Thus: a positive result does not mean a patient has Covid-19 but that a patient has had Covid-19 at some point in recent history. 

 

I don’t think the test will identify those currently carrying Covid-19 in their respiratory tract as the antigens may not yet be present in their blood stream. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by richard_smith237

[Somtamnication]

100 baht for Thais, 1000 baht for the alien, nasty farangs.

 

However, good news. These tests should be cheaper due to mass production, which will be ongoing for years and years.

[PETERTHEEATER]

9 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Great news if true.

And only 100 baht.

...........COVID-19 testing kit that can be produced for only hundreds of baht per set,

[oldhippy]

10 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

...........COVID-19 testing kit that can be produced for only hundreds of baht per set,

......The technology is to be passed on to the private sector to reduce capital cost to only slightly above 100 baht per kit,

 

I corrected your correction.