Imagine foregoing the usual COVID testing: no more swabs or saliva deposits. No, this isn’t something we’ve dreamed up – a Brisbane-based smartphone app ResApp takes all the hassle and discomfort from COVID testing away.
But how? ResApp analyses your cough to give you the results you need, and with a 92% success rate, it looks good: whilst improving availability, it simultaneously reduces costs and minimises environmental impact.
The app underwent a pilot clinical trial on 741 patients (446 had COVID). The accuracy of this type of testing means that it could select different operating points to achieve either higher sensitivity, higher specificity, or a balance of both.
Professor Catherine Bennet, Chair of Epidemiology at Deakin University, says that the world needs a more scalable diagnostic tool that could “balance the over-reliance on RATs and PCR tests.”
“ResApp’s test would significantly reduce the number of RAT and PCR test required while still maintaining the disease surveillance need to manage the continued impact of COVID-19,” Bennet, who is also a member of ResApp’s COVID scientific board, explained.