French lab goes to market with quick, painless COVID-19 saliva test

The French company Sys2Diag started selling a novel COVID-19 test Monday that its creators say detects whether the coronavirus is in a saliva sample within an hour. The test, EasyCov, requires a few drops of saliva collected by the user, placed in a test tube and analyzed on-site using a portable kit. "This allows for massive, rapid, painless, and more reactive tests," lead researcher Franck Molina tells Le Parisien. He suggested it would be useful for sports teams, airports, dentists, firefighters, and others who would benefit from a rapid, scalable coronavirus test.

Like other COVID-19 tests, EasyCov looks for RNA of the new coronavirus in the saliva sample, then translates the RNA into DNA, which the test can detect after the sample is heated to 65 degrees Celsius (150 degrees Fahrenheit). The results are displayed with colors: red for positive, yellow for negative. Sys2Diag says it is producing 200,000 kits each week for sale in France, with Asian and South American countries lined up to purchase the test when available. Preliminary studies show that the test is as accurate as conventional COVID-19 tests, and false positives are very low, according to the clinical researchers at Montpellier University Hospital.

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