COVID19: UK launches rapid £10 test developed by Cypriot

A rapid £10 coronavirus test that can return results in just over an hour has been launched by a British company run by a UK Cypriot scientist.

The firm that developed the rapid, portable, lab-free COVID-19 test now in use in the NHS, has announced the consumer launch of the ‘Bubble Test’.

DnaNudge is offering a COVID-19 test on one cartridge for ‘bubbles’ of up to 10 people who are not showing symptoms of the disease.

The company on Tuesday confirmed the rapid PCR test, which looks for evidence the virus is in your body, is open for online booking at its store in Covent Garden, London and will be available as an at-home, by-post service throughout the UK within weeks.

UK Cypriot DnaNudge CEO and co-founder Regius Professor of Engineering at Imperial College Chris Toumazou said, “by making this transformative test more widely accessible, at very low-cost, our aim is to help improve the detection of asymptomatic yet infectious individuals.

“And to support the huge effort to bring this virus under control and move us all forwards towards safety and a return to normality as soon as we possibly can.”

Up to 10 people at work, friends, family or other close contact bubbles can be tested at the same time at a cost of £10 per person, with results delivered within 90 minutes.

The DnaNudge COVID testing service is available specifically for people without symptoms looking for reassurance about whether they could be infectious – including essential workers – or who require PCR test confirmation of their COVID-19 status before travelling abroad.

The test accurately detects the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from individual nasal or saliva swab samples, which are processed in a cartridge containing “bio-marker” microchips.

For the soon to be launched at-home service, samples will be able to be provided securely by post.

If a positive result is detected from the pool, swabs from each individual retained from the initial sample collection are processed to identify the positive case (or cases) within the ‘bubble’.