This Breath Test Detects Covid-19 In 60 Seconds With 90% Accuracy! How It Works?

Yes you read it right, Singapore researchers have developed a breath test to detect Covid-19 within a minute.

Since the authorities in Singapore are currently working on a roadmap for the third phase of easing of safety measures in the country.

Breath Test To Detect Covid-19

For this test, as per the information provided by National University of Singapore researchers, a person simply would have to blow into a disposable mouthpiece connected to a “high-precision breath sampler”.

And Voila! The test is done.

Basically, this test detects Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in a person’s breath.

How Does It Work?

In this, a machine learning software is used which subsequently analyses the VOC profile and generates the result in less than a minute.

Further as explained by Breathonix CEO Dr Jia Zhunan, VOCs are consistently produced by various biochemical reactions in human cells.

Dr Jia said, “Different diseases cause specific changes to the compounds, resulting in detectable changes in a person’s breath profile. As such, VOCs can be measured as markers for diseases like COVID-19,”.

While talking about its working, the firm’s chief operating officer, Du Fang said, “the system’s disposable mouthpiece has a one-way valve and a saliva trap which prevents inhalation and any saliva from entering the machine”.

“This makes cross-contamination unlikely,” he added.

So far, this NUS start-up Breathonix technology has achieved more than 90 percent accuracy in a clinical trial which involved 180 patients.

This technology, “offers a fast and convenient solution to identify COVID-19 infection”, according to the university.

Roadmap For Phase 3

Currently, Singapore is working on the roadmap for the phase three of easing of safety measures under the circuit breaker, or semi-lockdown, to control the spread of COVID-19.

Further, the city-state will continue to remain in Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) Orange “for the time being”, the highest alert, according to the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force.

From November, a group of up to 20 people would be allowed to take part in activities like walking, cycling and kayaking tours, which is better from the current maximum size of 10, said by the Singapore Tourism Board on Monday.

Under safety measures, travel agencies and tour operators are allowed to resume on-site operations from October 19.

So far, six new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday, which included four imported ones, taking the total infections to 57,921.