India-Israel 30-second coronavirus test should be 'ready in days'

“It will be good news for the entire world,” said Israeli ambassador to India Ron Malka.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Eight packages at the Foreign Ministry's warehouse intended to be sent to India to assist with combating the coronavirus (photo credit: FOREIGN MINISTRY)
Eight packages at the Foreign Ministry's warehouse intended to be sent to India to assist with combating the coronavirus
(photo credit: FOREIGN MINISTRY)
A 30-second coronavirus detection test being developed by India and Israel should be ready in “a matter of days,” Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka told the Indian news agency PTI on Friday. “All the thresholds have been passed.”
The operation has been dubbed “Open Skies,” and Malka said he believes the testing kit will enable the world to begin opening the skies, since the technology simply requires a person to blow into a tube and the results become available in less than a minute. It is also very cheap to carry out, as the results are delivered locally without the logistics and cost of sending the sample to a lab.
“It will be good news for the entire world,” he said.
Malka said that India would likely serve as the manufacturing headquarters for this rapid-test kit.
Israel sent a senior-level delegation from the country’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development to India in July to develop the new and rapid coronavirus tests in cooperation with their Indian counterparts, while treating Indian patients with coronavirus.
The group focused on four technologies: sound waves, breathalyzers based on terahertz waves, isothermic identification and checking polyamino acids.
Tests were conducted on a large number of samples in India. According to Malka, each test has gone through different stages of evaluation.
“What I hear from those involved in the process, is that it should not take more than two to three weeks to finalize one reliable and accurate technology or a combination of more than one from among the four different technologies being analyzed,” Malka told PTI.
He said that this new rapid test is “a shining example of how fruitful collaboration in science and technology between Israel and India can be.”
Last week, Israel began using the FDA-approved Sofia coronavirus test, which is performed only using respiratory specimens collected from individuals who are suspected of having coronavirus. This innovative technology provides results within 15 minutes.