Coronavirus: Pin prick test for virus hits Australia this week

A test which can detect coronavirus in less than 15 minutes could be a curve-flattening game-changer in Australia.

Maria Halasz, CEO of Australian biotech company Cellmid. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

A pin prick blood test which can identify if a patient is COVID-19 positive in under 15 minutes will start rolling out in Australia this week and is set to be a major game changer is Australia’s push to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections.

CEO of the Australian biomedical research company, Cellmid, Maria Halasz, says the rapid diagnostic test can identify COVID-19 antibodies very early – within two to four days of infection.

“Our test is a very small finger prick – it takes 20 microlitres of blood – and in our experience we are getting results within three to 15 minutes,’ Ms Halasz told The Australian on Sunday.

She said the rapid test kits still need to be conducted by health professionals but they are entirely portable so can be used anywhere from hospitals and GP clinics to nursing homes and pharmacies.

Critically, the tests will also dramatically reduce the risk of infection to health professionals who are currently testing suspected cases with throat and nose swabs.

“You have to get very close to the patients (to get nose and mouth swabs) and so the risk of exposure to the virus increases,’ she said.

Ms Halasz said patients who tested positive with could also be immediately quarantined in contrast to the current honour system in which people were being sent home to self isolate and wait for days for their test results.

“We won’t be letting people back into the community like we are now,’ Ms Halasz said.

“We are at the very early stage of this cycle and we need to be incredibly vigilant and look after each other.

“This is a really virulent virus and it’s a very contagious beast.”

Ms Halasz said the rapid testing capacity would also relieve the “acute shortage of testing in Australia”.

She said a lack of the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) equipment needed for the COVID-19 mouth and nose swabs had so far strictly limited the level of testing in Australia, even though as of Saturday the country had tested 190,000 people which, on a per capita basis, was higher than most.

China first started using the pin prick tests on February 24 and since March 5 the tests had been rolled out in the UK, Belgium, Spain and Germany.

She said Cellmid would not have been able to access the test kits without its long standing relationship with Chinese research and pharmaceutical communities.

Australia’s therapeutic goods regulator, the TGA, had also acted with “breathtaking” speed, approving the pin prick tests on March 25, just two days after Cellmid submitted its application.