Could 50-second Covid tests save schools and travel?
Virion Device detects virus by using a saliva sample and can process 1,200 tests per day
![A member of the public takes a Covid-19 test](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jtomRdFXM4AFRComqRqAnT-415-80.jpg)
A 50-second test for Covid-19 could become key to the government’s plan for us to live with the virus and avoid future lockdowns.
The Virion Device enables someone to test whether or not they have coronavirus in less than one minute, according to the Israeli start-up that developed it. This is significantly quicker than the 15-30-minute period required by lateral flow tests and the 24 hours it generally takes to return a PCR result.
This new form of test detects Covid by using a saliva sample taken from under the tongue, as opposed to the more invasive nose and throat samples that are required for PCRs and lateral flows.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rather than detecting specific viral proteins, which is how a PCR works, or looking for Covid-19’s genetic material, as a lateral flow does, the Virion Device detects biomarkers – specific chemical compositions that reveal coronavirus infection.
The test should be able to detect future variants of the virus, as long as its biomarkers do not change, according to the i news site. This “has been the case so far”, the site says, with existing variants.
Seeking approval
The 50-second test was trialled in New Delhi, India, in July 2020, revealing an accuracy of 97.84%, according to the start-up’s figures. It has since been trialled in different countries and on different variants, including Delta and Omicron.
Kidod Science and Technology is seeking approval for its Virion Device in the UK via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said i news. If it is approved, it could be made available for private use and within “weeks”.
Moshe Golan, the president of Kidod Science and Technology, said that he hopes that the tests – which don’t require the use of a laboratory or anyone with specialist training – can eventually be used in airports, on cruises, factories, schools and universities.
“You can take [the device] from one place to another, so it can be in a small place, for example a small factory with one hundred workers,” Golan told the i. “Once they’re tested you can move it to another place.”
50 tests per hour
As each handheld Virion Device, which is about the size of a desktop computer, can conduct 50 tests per hour and 1,200 per day, they could revolutionise schools and places of work that have been disproportionately affected by the virus.
Rising numbers of absent workers was a hot topic over Christmas, with the Royal Mail saying that its staff shortages were “almost double 2018 levels” as a result of Covid, said the Financial Times.
On 20 July 2021, the BBC reported that 1.7 million pupils in England (23.3% of the total) had been out of school the previous week. A million of those children had been absent for Covid-related reasons, but only 47,000 actually had Covid.
Having access to a Virion Device, which could provide more than a thousand easy-to-administer Covid tests per day, could be a game-changer for the places that have been hardest hit by staff shortages as a result of isolation and quarantine rules.
However, it is not yet clear how much the devices will cost and whether or not they are likely to be approved by the MHRA.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Did Kamala Harris kill brat?
Talking Point Pop culture phenomenon co-opted by presidential candidate sparks claims brat is over
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
Paris Olympics: will it be a success?
Today's Big Question Organisers hope the 'spectacle' of the 2024 Games will lift the cloud of negativity that has hung over the build-up
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 20 - 26 July
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Brexit, Matt Hancock and black swans: five takeaways from Covid inquiry report
The Explainer UK was 'unprepared' for pandemic and government 'failed' citizens with flawed response, says damning report
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Should masks be here to stay?
Talking Points New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a mask ban. Here's why she wants one — and why it may not make sense.
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Covid might be to blame for an uptick in rare cancers
The explainer The virus may be making us more susceptible to certain cancers
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Long Covid and chronic pain: is it all in the mind?
The Explainer 'Retraining the brain' could offer a solution for some long Covid sufferers
By The Week UK Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published