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		</div><p>A portable Covid-19 test which aims to diagnose the disease in 90 minutes could make a “huge difference” in hospitals ahead of the winter battle against the disease, according to the scientists.</p>
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<p>The test, dubbed CovidNudge, has been shown to have over 94% sensitivity (the ability to correctly identify positive cases) and 100% specificity (the ability to correctly identify negative cases).<br />
It was designed by DnaNudge, an Imperial College London spinout company, and can be performed by the patient’s bedside, without requiring the use of a laboratory.</p>
<p>The process involves collecting nasal and throat swabs from patients and placing them on to a cartridge which goes into a shoebox-sized machine known as NudgeBox for analysis.<br />
The device then looks for traces of genetic material belonging to the coronavirus.<br />
Last month, the UK government placed a £161 million order for 5.8 million cartridges and 5,000 NudgeBox machines.</p>
<p>Each machine has the ability to process up to 15 tests on the spot each day.<br />
Graham Cooke, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, evaluated the results of the tests performed on 386 NHS staff and patients using CovidNudge.<br />
The findings have been published in the journal Lancet Microbe.</p>
<p>He described the CovidNudge testing kit as a “useful part of the whole puzzle for diagnostics”.<br />
He said: “This [the test] is particularly well suited for clinical settings when you are trying to make a rapid decision for a patient.<br />
“For example, we had a patient from last week who had a new diagnosis of Covid.</p>
<blockquote><p>Getting accurate results back to clinicians and their patients as quickly as possible makes a huge difference to how we safely manage clinical pathways and we are very much looking forward to rolling this out more widely</p></blockquote>
<p>“We were able to get the diagnosis confirmed within two hours of arriving and start remdesivir and dexamethadone [drugs used to treat severe Covid-19] on that basis – much quicker than we would have been able to with confidence without that.”</p>
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<p>The test is being used across eight London hospitals and is expected to be rolled out at a national level.<br />
The researchers are also making modifications to the device so the test can simultaneously assess other respiratory diseases alongside Covid-19, such as flu and respiratory syntactical virus.</p>
<p>Dr Bob Klaber, director of strategy, research and innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “As an organisation we are focused on using research and innovation to continuously drive improvements to care.”</p>
<p>He added: “Getting accurate results back to clinicians and their patients as quickly as possible makes a huge difference to how we safely manage clinical pathways and we are very much looking forward to rolling this out more widely.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Regius Professor Chris Toumazou, chief executive and co-founder of DnaNudge and founder of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial, said that while the test offers “very significant potential” in terms of mass testing for Covid-19, further studied are needed to demonstrate “real-world effectiveness in non-clinical settings”.</p>
<p>He said: “The platform is well suited to testing in primary care and community settings with potential for use in non-healthcare settings such as care homes, schools, transport hubs, offices, and, to help bring the arts back, in theatres and venues.”</p>
<p>While experts have described CovidNudge as promising development, one of the limitations is only a single sample can be analysed at a time – and may not be the answer to mass testing.<br />
Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at University of East Anglia – who was not involved in the study, added: “Whether this new technology would be of value on the UK government’s Moonshot testing strategy is uncertain.</p>
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<p>“The big worry is with use of any testing in asymptomatic individuals, a reported feature of this strategy.<br />
“Any testing of asymptomatic individuals is likely to yield very low numbers of true positives, probably less than one in 10,000 tests.</p>
<p>“When the true incidence is so low then even a small number of false positives from a test could mean that the majority of positive results are false.<br />
“We would need to see much larger evaluation studies to get a better understanding of the real specificity.”</p>
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