Bosch Develops Quicker Test for COVID-19

It could speed up the identification and isolation of infected patients.

Bosch claims it has a new, fully automated rapid test for COVID-19 that can help medical facilities such as doctors’ offices, hospitals and laboratories make fast diagnoses. The so-called rapid molecular diagnostic test runs on the Vivalytic analysis device from Bosch Healthcare Solutions.

The newly developed test, which apparently has not been certified yet by a major health or regulatory organization, will be available in Germany starting in April, with other markets in Europe and elsewhere to follow at an unknown time in the future. Bosch’s rapid COVID-19 test is the result of collaboration between the company’s Bosch Healthcare Solutions subsidiary and the Northern Irish medical technology company Randox Laboratories Ltd.

“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,” says Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.

The rapid test can 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, it’s claimed.

1. The rapid test is that it can be performed directly at the point of care. This eliminates the need to transport samples, which takes time.
2. It also means patients quickly gain certainty about their state of health, while allowing infected individuals to be identified and isolated immediately. With the tests currently in use, patients must usually wait one to two days for a result.
3. It 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.
4. Bosch says its rapid test is one of the world’s first fully automated molecular diagnostic tests that can be used directly by all medical institutions.

“The special feature of the Bosch test is that it offers differential diagnosis, which saves doctors the additional time needed for further tests. It also provides them with a reliable diagnosis quickly so they can then begin suitable treatment faster,” says Marc Meier, president of Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH.

The company is currently examining how it can help doctors and nursing staff in medical facilities such as the Robert Bosch Hospital get tested promptly so they can be fit to work for as long as possible – with no risk of infecting others.