“The COVID-19 pandemic will be fought on multiple fronts"
Top researchers are looking to find a cure for the Coronavirus. It now looks like steps have been taken as a Pakistani software engineer was part of a team who helped develop a portable test.
A Coronavirus testing kit has been created which can detective a positive test in as little as five minutes.
The US Food and Drug Administration had given Abbott Laboratories emergency authorisation to begin making the test available to healthcare providers as early as April 1, 2020.
One of the software engineers behind the revolutionary device is Jameel Sheikh.
Originally from Larkana district in Sindh, Jameel graduated from Karachi’s NED Engineering University before moving to the United States.
Jameel is also an active member of World Sindhi Congress and Sindhi Association of North America.
The test is lightweight and is the size of a small toaster. It will run on the company’s ID NOW platform and uses molecular technology.
While it detects positive results, it can also give negative results within 13 minutes.
The device has been designed to provide rapid results in a variety of healthcare locations such as doctor’s offices, care clinics and emergency departments.
Robert B Ford, President and Chief Operating Officer at Abbott, said:
“The COVID-19 pandemic will be fought on multiple fronts, and a portable molecular test that offers results in minutes adds to the broad range of diagnostic solutions needed to combat this virus.
“With rapid testing on ID NOW, healthcare providers can perform molecular point-of-care testing outside the traditional four walls of a hospital in outbreak hotspots.”
A statement added: “Testing remains a crucial step in controlling the novel COVID-19 pandemic.
“Continuing to supply healthcare providers with new technologies to help curb the spread of infection is a top priority for public health officials and healthcare providers.”
In its statement, Abbott revealed that they are increasing production to deliver 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day.
“With the combination of our ID NOW and m2000 COVID-19 testing capabilities, we will supply about 5 million tests per month.”
In Pakistan, the number of confirmed cases is over 1,800, with 25 deaths.
Punjab is currently the region with the highest number of cases at more than 600. Multiple regions across Pakistan have imposed lockdown until early April to reduce the spread of the virus.
Worldwide, Coronavirus has infected over 750,000 people. Over 30,000 have died and the number continues to increase.
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