Singapore has approved the COVID-19 breath test that provides accurate results within a minute.
The test, developed by the National University of Singapore-spinoff startup company Breathonix, underwent trials twice in Singapore and another in Dubai earlier this year.
The Breathonix test received provisional approval for use and will be tested on a sample of incoming travelers from neighboring Malaysia.
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Inventors said it works like a standard breathalyzer, a person exhales into a one-way valve mouthpiece and it will be compared by machine learning software against markers for diseases from someone who has COVID-19.
The machine detects volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a person’s exhaled breath produced by biochemical reactions in human cells.
“Breathonix is now working with the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) to run a deployment trial of their technology at one of the land checkpoints where incoming travelers will undergo screening with the BreFence Go COVID-19 breath test system,” NUS and Breathonix said in a joint release on Monday.
If a traveler tested positive in the breath test, the traveler would be screened in a confirmatory PCR swab test.
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The BreFence Go COVID-19 breath test system will be carried out alongside the mandatory COVID-19 antigen rapid test.
The breath tests underwent a clinical trial in Dubai in collaboration with Dubai Health Authority and Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The test is significantly faster than currently available screenings, such as the PCR tests which results can take 24 to 48 hours before it becomes available. (RA)
