Bosch Develops Rapid Test To Combat COVID-19

Recently, German tech-giant Bosch announced its new, fully automated rapid test for COVID-19, Bosch Vivalytic analyzer, which can help medical facilities such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, laboratories, and health centres make fast diagnoses. Bosch Healthcare Solutions subsidiary collaborated with the Northern Irish medical technology company Randox Laboratories Ltd. to develop Bosch rapid molecular diagnostic test which runs on the Vivalytic analysis device from Bosch Healthcare Solutions. 

Chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, Dr. Volkmar Denner said, “We want the Bosch rapid COVID-19 test to play a part in containing the coronavirus pandemic as quickly as possible. It will speed up the identification and isolation of infected patients.”

According to the blog post, the automate rapid test is developed in just six weeks which has the capability to test and detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours, measured from the time the sample is taken to the time the result arrives.

Another advantage of the Vivalytic analyser is that it can be performed directly at the point of care, eliminating the need to transport samples, which takes up valuable time. The rapid test allows a single sample to be tested not just for COVID-19 but also for nine other respiratory diseases, including influenza A and B, simultaneously. 

In various laboratory tests with SARS-CoV-2, the Bosch test delivered results with an accuracy of over 95 percent. The newly developed test will be available in Germany starting in April, with other markets in Europe and elsewhere to follow.

CEO of Bosch stated, “Bosch’s rapid COVID-19 test will help contain the spread of the pandemic and break the chain of transmission more quickly.”