PolyU's mobile Covid test machine gives results in 25 minutes
Local | 12 Apr 2022 5:52 pm
Hong Kong Polytechnic University developed a 100 percent-accurate mobile Covid testing machine that can test four samples simultaneously and confirm positive results within 25 minutes.
The research team said that the machine can also detect a sample carrying a very low viral load with the ability to read the CT value as high as 40.7.
The machine was developed through the efforts of multidisciplinary research at the university, which received over HK$2.7 million granted by the government's health and medical research fund in 2020.
Medics would first put six samples into the machine, including a negative and positive sample for comparison, and the machine would set the temperature at 60 degrees Celsius. The internal optical device would then detect the precipitation of the participles.
The residue – in red – will sink to the bottom if positive but evenly distributed among the testing indicator if negative. The test results can be seen with the naked eye without the need for large-size laboratory equipment, while the entire testing procedure takes just 40 minutes.
The machine can operate outside of a laboratory environment, and it comes with an internal battery that can be recharged.
The data will be instantly sent to a phone via Bluetooth, where software will conduct the analysis and show the results immediately. The sooner a rising trend appears among the figures, the higher the viral load the sample carries.
The team succeeded in testing environmental samples with the machine and will soon begin testing human samples.
The team expects that using their machine to perform a Covid test would be more cost-effective than the PCR method. However, actual costs could not be calculated as the machine has not yet gone into mass production.
The research team hoped the tech could be widely applied in local communities, especially places that need to obtain accurate test results in a short time, like quarantine hotels, elderly homes, clinics, and border points.
