A United Kingdom-based company claims to have developed a saliva test for COVID-19, called “Virolens” that takes 20 seconds to process and produce results.

The test it claims requires a simple mouth swab which is dropped inside a black box fitted with a modified microscope lens attached digital camera that examines the sample and displays an answer within seconds, the Financial Times reported.

The obscure, four-employee British company set up 40 miles outside of London is called iAbra. While it is still early days, excitement over possible veracity of the claim proves the desperation for a “silver bullet”, it noted.

As per iAbra, Virolens uses “microscopic holographic imaging and artificial intelligence (AI)” to analyse the saliva samples and run data through a computer trained to identify the virus from other cells.

Greg Compton, 33, CEO of iAbra told the paper it “only needs 10 viral particles in a sample to give a positive result.”  He was also positive everyone in Europe could be tested by January using the test.

The device is manufactured by TT Electronics – a company listed in the UK, now valued at 439 euros after its share price rose 40 percent once the news broke last week.

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Early supporters include Heathrow airport and $13 billion United States-based software company Leidos – and while both have not placed orders yet, Leidos said active negotiations are on, and Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said the tech was could potentially be “more accurate than PCR tests.” Compton also said the company also saw “huge demand” from Universities in the US.

“If we made a slight miswording of [our release], I apologise for everybody, but fundamentally, we’re trying to do a good thing for humanity as quickly as possible,” Compton was quoted saying, adding that he believed this is an important step in the battle against COVID-19.

There are however doubts surrounding around the seemingly “unlikely company” being the one to deliver such a product – notably, no employee has expertise in viruses or microscopy and Compton said the idea for the test emerged while he was at Dubai Airport.

He left school at age 17 but said he was always a computer kid having written his first program aged seven. He has held several IT jobs in Tiscali, Capita and BskyB without formal training.

Unsurprising, doubts have been raised over how reliable the technology is as it is yet to receive external regulatory approval and there is no external testing of data of the company’s claims.

Further, the involvement of virologists at the University of Bristol seems to have been misinterpreted as University virologist David Matthews said they “only provided samples of the coronavirus” to iAbra and was “not in any way involved in its validation.”

“We’ve put out our analytical specificity trials, and we’re following up with clinical trials, but all this takes time. I’ve taken huge personal risks from a financial perspective, in order to bring this to market,” Compton said.

Among concerns raised by scientists, one said the wording of iAbra’s release which suggests the virus is “another cell” was concerning, while several have pointed out iAbra’s presentation on the product did not contain sufficient information to explain its conclusions; others in general have raised the alarm on the inherent dangers of COVID-19 tests that are not properly validated.

Peter Török, professor of optical physics at Imperial College London and a specialist in digital holographic microscopy said iAbra’s claims are “theoretically possible”, but noted that scientific information provided was a “mishmash of different things”.

Compton, however, said the next step is to release detail around trials, adding: “We understand that it’s important to get confidence around the system.”

US tech giant Intel, which partners with iAbra on its AI engine had initially posted an article related to the product on its website on but removed it without explanation.

Another red flag for sceptics is iAbra’s connections to known Big Foot hoax-maker Lord Global Corporation (earlier known as Bigfoot Projects Incorporated), which is financing the project in Australia, Latin America and South-East Asia.