Non-invasive COVID-19 breath test could hit market within six months

Researchers in the United Kingdom are developing a breath test that can diagnose the coronavirus within a minute, the BBC reports.

The new test, which would have the capability to distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory illnesses using breath analysis, could begin to be used as soon as six months from now, according to the BBC.

“The potential, I think, is very exciting,” said Santi Dominguez, founder and chief executive of Imspex Diagnostics, the developers behind the new testing technology. “You could take a quick sample, it’s non-invasive, you don’t need a particularly specialised person to collect those samples – and a few minutes later you get a result.”

The new test would make for a much more comfortable coronavirus screening process as the need for swabbing would be nixed.

Two small studies were able to identify chemicals in the breath analyses that signified COVID-19, which were then confirmed by the widely-used coronavirus tests. Many factors need to be evaluated before the new technology could hit the market, however, including funding and testing on larger sample sizes.

Reports of the new testing technology come as the U.K. continues to see a rise in coronavirus cases and businesses get set for a new lockdown.