One-hour DnaNudge Covid-19 test is accurate, Lancet study finds


Reuters | Published: September 18, 2020 14:14:03 | Updated: September 19, 2020 10:12:08


A man stands near a sign for a Covid-19 test centre amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Bolton, Britain on September 17, 2020 — Reuters photo

A Covid-19 test known as DnaNudge that gives results in just over an hour and which requires no laboratory was accurate in almost all cases, according to an academic review in the Lancet.

The new test, based on the design of a DNA test developed by a professor at Imperial College London, received approval for clinical use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) at the end of April after successful trials.

In a study in The Lancet Microbe, the test was found to have an average sensitivity – the ability to correctly identify those with Covid-19 – of 94.4 per cent and a specificity – correctly identifying those without the disease – of 100 per cent.

“These results suggest that the CovidNudge test, which can be performed at a patient’s bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing,” Professor Graham Cooke, lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said.

“Many tests involve a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but this test manages to achieve both,” Cooke said.

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