Diagnostic test kit manufacturer, Medical Diagnostech, is producing the devices that use saliva samples to ascertain if a person is infected with the coronavirus or not.
CAPE TOWN - A rapid COVID-19 diagnostic test that gives a result within 15 minutes is being developed locally.In 2010, Medical Diagnostech managing director Ashley Uys turned his passion for science into a business venture.
"I saw there was a massive gap in the market in South Africa. It made business sense for me to use my scientific background to plug these gaps. That’s when I decided to establish Medical Diagnostech." Now, 10 years on, he and his team are developing a point-of-care COVID-19 test that will drastically reduce the waiting time for results.
"What we’ve developed was a saliva-based rapid test. The virus is, of course, present in your saliva as well and what we are targeting are targeting certain areas on the virus viral particle and we’ve developed a test kit that can detect the presence of spike protein or nuclear protein antigen." At present, the company employs around 40 people but there are plans to expand its workforce to around 60 employees after the release of the COVID-19 rapid test kits.
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