Local having COVID-19 sample taken by health worker in Thailand (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)Thai researchers are developing a sweat-based mobile virus detector,and road-tested it on shopkeepers at a Bangkok food market this week.
"From the samples, we found that people infected with COVID-19 secretevery distinct chemicals," said Chadin Kulsing from Bangkok'sChulalongkorn University.
"We used this finding to develop a device to detect the specificodours produced by certain bacteria in the sweat of COVID-19 patients".
Chadin - who said the test was 95 percent accurate - hopes it might berolled out as an affordable alternative to more expensive swab tests thatrequire lab processing.
It is, however, still in the development stage, and the research behindit is yet to be published or peer-reviewed.
The scientists adapted a device usually used to detect toxicchemicals in the environment.
Targeted persons place a cotton swab under their arms for 15 minutes, before the swabis put in a glass vial and sterilised with UV rays. The technician then drawsan appropriate amount of the sample using a suction hose, and pressurises itinto the analyser to check the results. Chadin said sample collection takes15 minutes and the results are ready in 30 seconds.
Thailand, battling its third and worst COVID-19 wave, reported 16,000 new cases on September 9, taking the total since the start of the pandemic to nearly 1.34 million./.
VNA
