Coronavirus testing may soon be much easier.
Computer vision startup Gauss and biotech company Cellex announced Thursday they've created the first at-home COVID-19 test that can actually be done fully at home, Axios reports. While existing at-home tests still require sending test samples to a lab for analysis, this one coordinates with an app to deliver results at home in just 15 minutes.
To take the test, people follow a video and swipe a nasal swab through both nostrils, then put it in a tube of solution. Drops of that solution head into a rapid test cassette, which delivers lines as a visible test result. People then take a picture of those lines and upload it to Gauss's app, and it uses AI to determine results in about 15 minutes, Axios describes. This is a big change from typical tests that require sending samples out for analysis, though those PCR tests tend to be a bit more accurate than rapid tests. Gauss/Cellex's collaboration produces a correct positive test result 90 percent of the time, and a correct negative test result 100 percent of the time, Cellex CEO James Li said.
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The Food and Drug Administration still has to approve the test, though it could grant it an emergency use authorization, which would get it out into the world earlier by avoiding much of the typical approval process. Then comes distribution and pricing; Li told Axios "our goal is to make this assay as widely available as possible."
