Singapore is among the countries that were badly impacted by the pandemic starting in 2020. The country that has a huge chunk of its revenue generated through tourism had it taken away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, it was important for Singapore to come up with ways to deal with COVID-19 swiftly and make their country safe for traveling. This way, the country could bring visitors and tourists back, and bring its revenue generation back to the old levels.
As the country’s economy is dependent on tourism revenue, it had its research teams work on finding the best safety kids and equipment to deal with COVID-19.
Latest Development by Singapore Scientists
Scientists from Singapore have recently developed a highly advanced kit that is going to prove a breakthrough in fighting off COVID-19.
The COVID-19 test kit will have the ability to establish whether the person being tested has immunity against the coronavirus or not.
The test kit is limited not only to COVID-19 but it is also suitable for the variants of the coronavirus. As per the scientists, in only 10 minutes, the testers will be able to confirm whether the person is immune to COVID-19 or not.
The test kit will also help discover the level of antibodies in the person being tested to establish whether it is necessary to administer the booster dose or not.
Singapore-MIT Alliance Scientists Developed the Kit
The Research and Technology alliance between Singapore and MIT, commonly known as SMART was the one that worked primarily on the development of the low-cost kit.
The company also had the support of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) while developing the kit. According to scientists, the effectiveness of the low-cost kit is 93%.
The kit comes with an assay that is paper-based and coated with chemicals. The antibodies are then bound to the chemicals as a blood sample is taken by the tester.
A Drop of Blood
With the help of the kit, the doctors and testers will be able to discover the antibodies inside the people being tested. All it would take would be a drop of blood for the operators to check whether the person needs a booster dose or not.
As for the conventional laboratory testing for COVID-19, it would take around 24 to 72 hours to establish whether the person was immune to COVID-19 or not.
Targeted Vaccinations
With the help of the new kit, it would be made easier to target the people who are in need of the vaccination or the booster dose.
The kit would allow the users to come up with strategies for vaccinations. They will not have to administer vaccination doses to everyone and at unscheduled timings.
Instead, the doctors will be able to pinpoint when people need to be injected with the vaccination and be administered with the booster shots.
The creation of the kit would not only prevent deaths and the number of COVID-19 or variant cases but also reduce the costs countries have to bear for the vaccinations.