[ad_1]
A rapid test for coronavirus by DnaNudge which ministers said was part of a grand scheme to run millions of tests in England, works well in hospitals but will not be expanded to help the government’s “Moonshot” plan in the short term, experts say.
On August 3, the government announced that “starting next week, millions of new rapid coronavirus tests will be implemented in NHS hospitals, residences and laboratories.” He had purchased 5.8 million 90-minute tests from DnaNudge, a spin-off from Imperial College London.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at the time, “I am very grateful to DnaNudge and his incredible work to innovate coronavirus testing, which will mean we can test millions more people in the coming months.”
Last week, leaked documents revealed the existence of Operation Moonshot, the government’s goal of using next-generation technology to achieve 10 million tests a day.
A Lancet Microbe article evaluating the performance of the DnaNudge test found it to be 94.4% sensitive, so it will not identify 5.6 cases out of 100.
“These results suggest that the CovidNudge test, which can be performed at the patient’s bedside without the need to manipulate any sample material, has comparable precision to standard laboratory tests,” said Professor Graham Cooke, lead author of the Imperial College London study. However, he said that the “NudgeBox” conducting the test can only run a limited number of tests per day, so it wouldn’t help with the push to scale up the tests.
The government has the ambition to double current capacity to 500,000 by the end of October. Dido Harding, head of the test and trace program, told the science and technology committee Thursday that demand was three to four times capacity.
“I think this may play a role in certain areas, but it really won’t be the answer to a very high number of tests that are done every day,” Cooke said.
The test uses gold standard PCR technology, but does not require a laboratory. A nurse or doctor takes a nasal swab from a patient and inserts it into a small single-use cartridge. That goes into the “NudgeBox” which processes the sample in 90 minutes, but can only take one sample at a time. That means each box can only process a maximum of 16 tests in 24 hours. A hospital that uses it currently has 20 boxes.
“If the results of the additional evaluations at launch remain good, I can certainly see that this test finds a place in clinics and hospitals where there is no immediate access to laboratory facilities. The main time savings will likely come from not having to transport swabs from one location to another, ”said Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia.
“At present, although it does not appear that this is the home test that would be what was needed for the ‘Moonshot strategy’ as currently reported.”
