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A non-invasive Covid-19 breath test that returns results in a minute will be trialed in Singapore.

Developed by Breathonix, a spin-off company from the National University of Singapore (NUS), the test has received provisional authorisation from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), and will be used to screen travellers at Tuas Checkpoint in a deployment trial.

According to a joint statement by NUS and Breathonix, the BreFence Go Covid-19 breath test system will be used alongside the current compulsory antigen rapid test to screen incoming travellers.

Simple and non-invasive

The test works by analysing particles called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a person's exhaled breath; VOCs in a healthy person's breath will vary from that of a person with an illness.

The administration of the test was described as "simple" — it does not require medically trained staff or laboratory processing.

"Our breath test is non-invasive," said Jia Zhunan, co-founder of Breathonix and an NUS graduate.

"Users only need to breathe out normally into the disposable mouthpiece provided, so there will not be any discomfort," she said.

Cross-contamination was also unlikely, according to Jia, as the disposable mouthpieces have one-way valves and saliva traps built into them.

Supported by NUS

Jia founded Breathonix with two other NUS graduates — Du Fang and Wayne Wee — and her PhD advisor T. Venky Venkatesan.

The start up is supported by the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP), a scheme that encourages talented NUS graduate students and research staff to establish and run high potential start-ups based on deep technologies.

"The pandemic is likely to go on for several years. Mass, repeated testing has to be widely adopted as a key public health strategy to support the safe reopening of economies," said head of GRIP Freddy Boey.

"Breathonix’s home-grown technology hits the right spot."

Trialed in Singapore and Dubai

NUS wrote that there was "strong commercial interest" in the BreFence Go, with Breathonix in discussion with several local and overseas organisations over the use of their system.

So far, it has undergone clinical trials at three locations since June 2020.

In Singapore, trials were carried out at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Changi Airport, while the third trial was carried out in Dubai, in collaboration with the Dubai Health Authority and the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Top image from NUS's Website