Credit: MBRU
A rapid breath test that is reportedly capable of detecting COVID-19 within 60 seconds is currently being trialled in Dubai.
Developed by Breathonix, a company associated with the National University of Singapore (NUS), the breath test is being assessed for accuracy by the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and Dubai Health Authority (DHA).
A total of 2,500 patients are involved in the trial taking place at the Nadd Al Hamar primary healthcare centre, the DHA confirmed.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Initial trials of the potentially game changing test took place on 180 patients in Singapore, with results showing a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 95% with machine learning algorithm.
Game-changing breath analyser test to detect virus in 60 seconds
13 Mar 2021
Mariecar Jara-Puyod,
Senior Reporter
From the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to sniffing K-9 dogs, determining if one were infected with the quick-mutating virulent SARS-CoV2 may soon become much easier and faster as an ongoing study on a breath analyser technology, originally for cancer detection, is now being conducted in Dubai.
The collaborative study among the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) in Dubai Healthcare City, and the National University of Singapore-Breathonix Pte Ltd. (Breathonix) was announced on Saturday.
It comes after the UAE Ministry of Interior on Mar.10 released a video whereby well-trained K-9 dogs sniff on the armpit swabs of individuals for the positive or negative COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), and the method to be implemented in approved public events or gatherings.
When will the vaccination open-up for non-priority groups?
Vaccine priority is very important to ensure that individuals who are at a higher-risk of illness if they get COVID-19 are vaccinated. It is also pertinent for individuals who are at a higher risk of contracting the illness due to the nature of their job (frontliners) are vaccinated on a priority basis. We are moving well very along the priority vaccination drive and I think by the end of the first quarter this year, we should be able to open it up for all the eligible population in Dubai.
Here, I say eligible population because there is an age limit of 16 years for Sinopharm and 18 years for the other two vaccines (Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNtech). Moreover, there will always be members of the community who are not able to take the vaccine for medical reasons. Barring the age limit and medical reasons, our aim is to vaccinate 100 per cent of the adult population in Dubai and we are on track.