An academic review published in the Lancet Microbe found that DnaNudge, a coronavirus test developed by Britain that gives the result in an hour with no requirement of a laboratory to confirm test results, is accurate in almost all cases.
According to researchers who reviewed the test, it will allow faster testing by eliminating the need of laboratory confirmation. Hence, it can help in the timely management of the positive cases, thereby, slowing the rate of infection.
The test was developed by a professor at Imperial College London. It received clinical approval by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in April after successful trials.
The recent review published in Lancet revealed that the test was found to have an average sensitivity - the ability to accurately find those with Covid-19 - of 94.4 per cent and a specificity - correctly identifying those without the disease - of 100 per cent.
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Graham Cooke, the lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said in an official statement: “These results suggest that the CovidNudge test, which can be performed at a patient’s bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing.”
The experts who carried the review called this nostril swab “a sensitive, specific, and rapid point of care test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 without laboratory handling or sample pre-processing”.