The breath analysis system underwent clinical trials from last June to last month.
A breath test that can accurately detect Covid-19 within a minute is set to be rolled out in Singapore, with a trial to begin at Tuas Checkpoint, a border crossing station in Singapore, in the coming days.
Developed by Breathonix, a company from the National University of Singapore (NUS), the breath test system is the first of its kind to receive provisional authorisation from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
The company’s breathalysers hope to speed up the global testing process as they can produce results much faster than PCR tests.
Breathonix is working with the Ministry of Health for its deployment trial at Tuas Checkpoint.
The trial will see the screening of incoming travellers in the region and will be carried out alongside antigen rapid testing for now.
The BreFence Go Covid-19 Breath Test System will operate when a person exhales into a disposable one-way valved mouthpiece and breath samples. The mass spectrometer then analyses the invisible particles, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in the breath.
A healthy person will have a different VOC signature from someone with the virus, different illnesses will also create different VOC signatures.
Any individual with a positive result will then have to undertake a PCR test.
The breath analysis system has already undergone clinical trials from last June to last month.
The company was founded by three NUS graduates, Dr Jia, Mr Du Fang, Mr Wayne Wee and Professor T. Venky Venkatesan.
“Our breath test is non-invasive. Users only need to breathe out normally into the disposable mouthpiece provided, so there will not be any discomfort,” Dr Jia Zhunan, Chief Executive of Breathonix, said in a joint statement by Breathonix and NUS on Monday.
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