S Korean scientists develop biosensor detecting COVID-19 strains in 30 minutes

A team of scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has developed a screening biosensor that can detect variants of the COVID-19 coronavirus in half an hour.

Report informs, citing Interfax that such a biosensor successfully diagnoses coronavirus within 30 minutes. Further, it has demonstrated efficacy comparable to that of a PCR test, which yields results only a few hours after the procedure.

As noted, this highly sensitive and portable biosensor was created by a group of scientists from this institute. It can detect coronavirus strains through the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2). ACE2 is a virus receptor common to all known variants of COVID-19, it is a protein through which coronavirus enters cells.

On Wednesday, the daily increase in cases of COVID-19 in South Korea reached another high and amounted to more than 13,000. Such an increase is associated with the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain. A day earlier, 8,571 cases were reported in the country.

On Monday, the South Korean government confirmed that Omicron has become the dominant strain in the country, with detection rates exceeding 50% last week.

Under this regime, local hospitals and clinics will test and treat patients, and rapid antigen tests will replace PCR tests. The latter will only be used for high-risk groups, including those over 60 years of age.

In total, more than 762,900 cases of coronavirus were detected in South Korea during the pandemic, about 6,600 infected people died.