Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/08/2020
By: Su Ssu-yun and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A technical cooperation effort between Taiwan and Denmark has produced a testing device for the COVID-19 coronavirus that shows the results in just 12 minutes, but it is still in the clinical trial stage, Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology announced Wednesday.

The device, dubbed ViroTrack COVID-19 IgM/IgG, was developed by a joint startup BluSense Diagnostics, with funding from Taiwan, the ministry said while unveiling the test kit at a press event.

All it requires is one drop of blood (30 ul) from the patient, and the ViroTrack can produce a result within 12 minutes, indicating whether the person is carrying the virus or has recovered from a COVID-19 infection, the ministry said.

In an initial clinical trial last week, 15 blood samples were tested at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark, and performance of the device was 90 percent in terms of both sensitivity and specificity, according to BluSense Diagnostics.    [FULL  STORY]