COVID ‘alarm’ can detect if someone in a room has the virus

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A new device can smell Covid-19 by detecting the chemical changes in the skin and breath of people infected with the virus.
• According to experts, the ceiling-mounted device can detect Covid in a large room within 15 to 30 minutes.
• The study suggests the sensor, which is a little bigger than a smoke detector, has up to a 100 percent accuracy rate.

British researchers say there is a new device that can detect if someone in a crowded room is infected with COVID-19.

RoboScientific, the Cambridgeshire-based firm that created the ceiling-mounted device, says it is highly accurate. The sensor can detect infection within 15 to 30 minutes before it raises a coronavirus alarm.

The Covid-19 sensor is slightly larger than a smoke detector. It detects changes in the smell of the skin or breath of people who are infected.

The device scans for the odor from samples taken from the room and then an alert is sent with the results, according to RoboScientific. The human nose cannot pick up the odor.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Durham University in the UK tested the Covid alarm by using body-odor samples from socks worn by infected and uninfected individuals.

The study reveals that the device was able to detect Covid-19 from the samples with a 98 to 100 percent accuracy rate, making it even more accurate than PCR tests, since they don’t always pick up asymptomatic carriers, the Times of London reported.

Scientists said the device can provide safety for travel and crowded events.

“This would allow the detection of one infected individual within a room or aircraft,allowing rapid and more targeted testing to be done, saving money and time, and reducing onward transmission,” the researchers said.

Last year, two companies, Airbus and Koniku, announced that they had partnered up to create a similar device that also triggers an alarm when “smelling” molecular compounds of Covid-19.

Source: New York Post