Prince of Songkla University team designs ‘easy, fast, accurate’ Covid-19 test kits

By The Nation

 

 

A research team from Prince of Songkla University’s (Hat Yai Campus) Faculty of Medical Technology has successfully designed Covid-19 detection kits under the concept of "easy, fast and accurate" testing, using 2-3 drops of blood from a person’s fingertips, with results being obtained within 15 minutes and at 99 per cent accuracy, according to the university.

 

Asst Prof Pengsakul,Theerakamol, who led the research team, said more than 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic. Therefore, the test kit detects antibodies or immunity of an infected person as patients normally build immunity within 1-2 weeks.

 

The team designed a specific protein to detect Covid-19, using accurate gold nanotechnology. The result displays like a pregnancy detection kit and can indicate the stage of infection in four stages – those who have never been infected; early-stage infection; infected for a while; and infected for a long time.

 

The test kits have been standardised and can be used in real time. With a production capacity of 100,000 per day, the kits are also attracting international attention, including from the United States, India and Arab countries, he said.

 

The kits have not yet gone on sale to the general public because they are medical devices that require professional and legal certification.

 

Two tests kits have been developed:

 

The KBS kit was jointly developed by the research team and KBS company, which has passed FDA standards.

 

The PSU kit, developed by the university, is awaiting FDA assessment.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30400862

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2021-01-07

 

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It's an antibody test????

This could really worry the authorities if they rolled it out nationwide. Population testing to see if they've had it would possibly show up any possible misreporting in the past. Wuhan revealed up to 480k infected in the past, discovered by antibody testing, few more than the 59k odd originally reported.