Researchers at Israel's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have put a stake down in the race for an inexpensive, rapid COVID-19 test, reporting in the journal ACS Nano that their breath test has shown promising results in a trial of 140 people in Wuhan, China. The smartphone-sized prototype developed by Israeli and Chinese researchers requires only that users breathe into the breathalyzer-like device for 2 to 3 seconds.
"There are no accessories, it requires no lab processing, and it gives results within 30 seconds of blowing," Techion's Hossam Haick told The Times of Israel. The test uses an array of gold nanoparticles to identify a volatile organic compounds (VOC) particular to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
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