A group of Bangladeshi scientists have developed a Covid-19 testing kit that can detect the virus in just 15 minutes.
The tests, which cost $3.25 to produce, are allegedly able to test any positive case. “It uses the dot blot testing technique by looking for antibodies in the blood that are created in response to the virus,” said lead scientist Dr. Bijon Jumar Sil. Sil and his fellow researchers are due to provide the first batch of 100, 000 tests to the Bangladeshi government by next week. Is the test reliable? Some experts have questioned the reliability of the tests. According to Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan, a leading Bangladeshi physician, the dot blot testing kits have not been approved by international organisations which is why they may not produce accurate results.
“Other countries have also created rapid testing kits, but those have been proven to be unreliable, with error rates of around 30%,” Rahman explained.
Read more from Propergaanda: Showing love during the time of social distancing: Facebook’s care emoji