Thailand develops ‘COVID-19 Scan’ test kit with 98% accuracy

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Assoc. Prof Dr. Sanchai Payungporn said the team aimed to create a kit, which is convenient, fast, inexpensive and efficient, as a service to give the public the easiest possible access to screening, while COVID-19 cases are soaring in Thailand.

A research team from the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry at Chulalongkorn University has developed the ‘COVID-19 Scan’, an innovative test kit that is more than 98% accurate.

Assoc. Prof Dr. Sanchai Payungporn said the team aimed to create a kit, which is convenient, fast, inexpensive and efficient, as a service to give the public the easiest possible access to screening, while COVID-19 cases are soaring in Thailand.



The COVID-19 Scan kit employs molecular testing, like the Real-time PCR method, using saliva swab samples, which are easy to collect and have a high infection detection rate within the first 11 days of the development of symptoms. The processing can take up to two hours, depending on the sample volume.


According to Dr. Sanchai, the efficacy of the COVID-19 Scan in clinical diagnosis is 100% specificity, 96.23% sensitivity and 98.78% accuracy. It also uses simple tools and less storage space. It is suitable for provincial hospitals and general clinics that do not have expensive Real-time PCR machines. (NNT)