Hannah Grace Tech 01.28.2022 20:Jan PM EST

New COVID-19 Testing Method Uses a Smartphone To Get Results, Costs Lesser Than Other: Full Details

After several reports stated the difficulty of acquiring COVID-19 tests, researchers have developed a new testing method that uses a smartphone to get easier results. It is also cheaper than other test kits available.

Poll Shows 60 Percent Of Adults are Having Difficulty Acquiring COVID-19 Tests

The COVID-19 virus has been linked to a respiratory sickness outbreak in China's Hubei region, where it was first discovered. Since December 2019, cases have been discovered in a growing number of nations around the world.

From the ordinary cold to more serious disorders like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses that have been proven to cause illness.

With the rise of COVID-related deaths around the world, several people are being tested to identify if they have the said respiratory illness.

COVID-19 tests, specifically RT-PCR, are proven to be effective in detecting it. However, numerous people are furious about the long waiting line just to get tested. Aside from this, they are also pointing out the difficulty of acquiring testing kits at home.

In fact, according to a new poll, more than 60 percent of adults in the United States who sought to take a COVID-19 test at home had difficulty, highlighting the issue of testing availability.

While 62 percent of adults in the United States who sought to receive an at-home coronavirus test in the previous month had trouble, compared to 38 percent who found it easier.

For in-person tests, the results were better, with 65 percent indicating it was easy and 35 percent stating that it was challenging. With a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 1,536 adults in the United States were polled.

Experts, on the other hand, have emphasized the importance of at-home testing because of their convenience of use and quick results, which means people don't have to wait days for a response.

New COVID-19 Testing Method Uses a Smartphone To Get Results

Since acquiring at-home test is difficult, a group of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara stated to have created a new type of COVID-testing method that only requires a smartphone app and some basic lab equipment, per Gizmodo.

Surprisingly, the said new testing method could still be as accurate as a PCR test.

Unlike other tests, this new system-described in a new research published in the journal JAMA Network Open won't add a hundreds of dollars in a person's medical bill. Instead, the researchers claims that their entire system, dubbed "smaRT-LAMP," can be set up for about $100, including the cost of the smartphone required to operate the program.

Bacticount is an app that detects viruses in a person's saliva using the camera on their smartphone.

How Does The New COVID-19 Works?

A person puts their saliva into a testing kit on top of a hot plate, then drops in a specific reactive solution designed to enhance viral RNA found in the spit-a process known as "Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification," or LAMP. These specimens were then wrapped with a cardboard box with an LED light attached to the top once they had been properly LAMP-ified.

The smartphone camera then glances into the top of the box, hoping to observe color changes showing whether their saliva samples are positive for COVID-19.

Probes in the solution bind to pathogens and glow brightly red when pathogens are present.

Overall, the researchers estimate that each test with this method will cost only $7 per person. The only drawback is that, for the time being, the software is only functional with Samsung Galaxy S9 devices due to the model's unique camera calibrations-but this could change in the future.

It is important to note that this method and the study are based on a tiny sample size of 50 people.