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Coronavirus could be detected by sneezing or coughing into smartphone


Coronavirus could soon be detected by sneezing or coughing onto a smartphone.

A sensor in the device will be able to tell in just 60 seconds if a user is infected.

The gadget was originally developed to combat the mosquito-borne Zika virus that triggered a global health emergency in 2016 and was linked to severe birth defects.

Project leader Prof Massood Tabib-Azar, an engineer at the University of Utah in the US, said: “The main idea was to enable people to have their own personal sector to detect Zika in places that they travel.

“The plan is to program it to identify Covid-19 instead.

Most tests for the new strain of coronavirus involve taking a swab sample for analysis

“If someone breathes, coughs, sneezes or blows on the sensor, it will be able to tell if they have Covid-19.”

It is hoped that the app, costing around £45, will be available in less than three months.

A prototype – about the size of a ten pence piece – communicates with a smartphone via wireless technology Bluetooth.

Users plug the sensor into their phone’s charging port and launch the app, before placing a small particle of saliva onto it and wait for it to change colour if a person has the killer virus.

Prof Tabib-Azar added: “In principle we can put these devices in everybody’s hand, and once we produce them in large scale inexpensively, then it is like any other thing that people want to have with them.”

He is also hoping to be able to send the results to health agencies at the push of a button.

The app is expected to be ready to trial in July and if all goes well will be available for purchase in August.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said on Sunday how 30 million coronavirus vaccines could be available by September if the drug works.

Mr Sharma revealed a deal had been struck between the drug giant and Oxford University where trails are currently under way that will hopefully offer a protective treatment to the deadly Covid-19 virus.





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