Thursday, December 31, 2020

Lightning fast, extremely accurate, saliva-based test for COVID-19 developed in ... Turkey!

Well, this is brilliant. A new COVID-19 saliva-based test has been developed in Turkey (of all places!) that produces results in 5-20 seconds (5-10 seconds for a positive identification, up to 20 seconds for a negative), does not require the intrusive and uncomfortable nasal swabs, and is 99% effective! 

Sound too good to be true? Well, supposedly it is a real thing. Known as the Diagnovir, the diagnostic kit was developed at Bilkent University and uses a mouth swab and nanotechnology to detect COVID particles optically, based on their size and shape.

The test kits are still a couple of months away from official approval, even in Turkey. But wouldn't it be nice as a replacement for the slow and intrusive PCR tests?

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