Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the University of Basel have developed a rapid test for Covid-19. Its novel functional principle promises reliable and quantifiable results concerning a patient's Covid-19 disease and its course – as well as evidence concerning other diseases and Covid variants that may be present.
Now a new test developed at PSI – which, unlike antigen tests, does not directly detect components of the virus, but rather the antibodies the immune system produces in response to the infection –promises to bring substantially more predictive power to rapid testing. It is just as inexpensive, quick, and easy to use, and it can also be used to simultaneously identify a variety of pathogens, such as those responsible for the flu.
Before it can go into widespread use, however, it still must undergo further testing and optimisation.
https://www.psi.ch/en/media/our-research/new-better-coronavirus-rapid-test
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-86889.html
(Photo: Paul Scherrer Institute/Mahir Dzambegovic).