DIAGNOSTIC TEST FOR COVID-19
The coronavirus COVID -19 is posing major challenges for healthcare systems and medical institutions worldwide. An ability to rapidly diagnose the virus is of invaluable help in curbing its exponential spread in many countries.
Bosch’s new, fully automated rapid test for COVID-19 can help medical facilities such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, laboratories, and health centers make fast diagnoses.
The rapid molecular diagnostic test runs on the Vivalytic analysis device from Bosch Healthcare Solutions. It will speed up the identification and isolation of infected patients.
The rapid test can detect a coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours — measured from the time the sample is taken to the time the result arrives. Another advantage is that it can be performed directly at the point of care. This eliminates the need to transport samples, which takes up valuable time. It has an accuracy of over 95 percent and meets the quality standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).
It allows a single sample to be tested not just for COVID-19 but also for nine other respiratory diseases, including influenza A and B, simultaneously. The special feature of the Bosch test is that it offers differential diagnoses, which saves doctors the additional time needed for further tests. After a patient’s sample, the nasopharyngeal swab is inserted into the cartridge, it is put into the Vivalytic analyzer and the test runs fully automated. In less than 2.5 hours the results are delivered electronically.
Bosch’s rapid COVID-19 test is the result of the collaboration between the company’s Bosch Healthcare Solutions subsidiary and the Northern Irish medical technology company Randox Laboratories Ltd. The newly developed test will be available in Germany starting in April, with other markets in Europe and elsewhere to follow.
