New Coronavirus Testing Kit Enables Potential COVID-19 Patients to Swab Themselves Without Risking Health of Clinicians

Scientists have created a self-administered test for COVID-19, which they claim is as accurate as screenings by medical professionals.

Swabs taken from the nostril and mid-nose of COVID-19 patients picked up the disease in more than 90 percent of cases, according to a statement by healthcare company UnitedHealth Group which created it.

That is the same level of accuracy as those carried out by clinicians, it said. The study involved almost 500 patients at OptumCare facilities in hard-hit Washington state, and the results were prepared for an unnamed major peer-reviewed medical journal.

Its designers say the test is more efficient and less invasive than existing methods, where a healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment uses a Q-tip-like object to swipe a person's nasopharynx at the back of the throat and nose. They also hope it will prevent such workers from being exposed to the new coronavirus, which has sickened over half a million people as shown in the graphic by Statista below.

UnitedHealth Group said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its guidance based on its research to allow patients to test themselves for COVID-19.

The Wall Street Journal reported a UnitedHealth Group clinic rolled out the approach on Monday, and it hopes to implement it around the country.

Dr. Yuan-Po Tu, an infectious disease expert at The Everett Clinic of OptumCare, said in a statement: "We know that broad, rapid and accurate testing is essential to addressing the COVID-19 crisis, yet the current clinician-administered process significantly limits testing capacity, puts frontline health care workers at risk of COVID-19 exposure, and is unpleasant for patients.

"Making simple, patient-administered testing widely available will substantially improve testing efficiency, while protecting health care workers and preserving urgently needed personal protective equipment, such as face masks, gowns and gloves."

Ken Ehlert, chief scientific officer of UnitedHealth Group, said in a statement that Dr. Tu was working on the front lines of its clinical care facilities when he saw an opportunity to improve COVID-19 testing and "rallied the expertise and resources of UnitedHealth Group to complete the study in less than one week."

Asked if the test seemed promising, Ian Jones, professor of virology at the U.K.'s University of Reading, who did not work on the project, told Newsweek: "Yes this seems both sensible and practical. The data suggest that the sample was taken accurately in most cases so the level of missed positives is likely to be acceptable, especially when traded off against the increase in the number of samples it would allow."

Jones highlighted the method is not a complete test, and the result still needs to be verified in a lab.

"Testing has emerged as a key issue in knowing where the virus is ahead of appropriate control measures, so anything that increases the numbers and also reduces the drain and risk to healthcare workers should be beneficial," he said.