In early January, 2021, Indonesian scientists have developed a simpler way to detect Coronavirus in less than 2 minutes. Meet “GeNose” C-19, a breathalyzer device that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of an “electronic nose to smell” Covid-19. The test is like a dog sniffing for elements that are unique to Covid-19. The best part is the accuracy is at least 95%.

 

Developed by the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), the device would increase mass testing of Coronavirus at hospitals, airports and other public places in the country – the world’s fourth most populous country. Indonesia needs faster screening to prevent people getting infected, said Indonesia’s Minister for Research and Technology Bambang Brodjonegoro.

 

GeNose is able to produce results in roughly a minute and a half, as compared to 2 days or longer in the standard PCR nasal swab test. That’s a critical factor in a country with a population of 273-million people. Here’s how it works – you blow into a bag which will then be sealed. The bag is plugged into a machine where its software interprets it, and voila, the result is out.

Professor Kuwat Triyana, who led the GeNose research project, explained – “The breath is sucked by a mini pump into sensors which can read the ‘pattern’ of Covid-19, The pattern of Covid positive and negative can easily be differentiated, as long as we can create the artificial intelligence to read it. Coronavirus’ pattern would be different from influenza, tuberculosis or pneumonia.”

 

The entire process takes about 80 seconds, not bad for a solution that underwent clinical trials at a Yogyakarta hospital in May 2020 and was approved fairly quickly for distribution in late December. Selling at 68 million Indonesian rupiah (US$4,830; £3,530; RM19,700), the machine is implanted with a memory of positive PCR swab test results.

 

Unlike rapid antigen test (a nasal or throat swab) that hurts slightly, breathing into a bag is not only simpler, but also cheaper and an easier method that is acceptable by people in general. On Wednesday (Feb 3), about a month after the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo granted a distribution permit for GeNose, Indonesia started the deployment of the Covid-19 breathalyzer at train stations in Java.

Indonesia is not the only country in Southeast Asia that has developed a breathalyzer to test for the virus. Earlier in October 2020, Breathonix, a startup at the National University of Singapore (NUS), has developed a breathalyzer test that could detect whether a person has Covid-19 within 60 seconds. Clinical trials of the non-invasive breathalyzer also has shown more than 90% accuracy.

 

Founded by two NUS graduates, Dr Jia Zhunan and Mr Du Fang, the Breathonix’s breath analysis technology works by detecting Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) present in a person’s exhaled breath. Different diseases cause specific changes to the compounds, resulting in detectable changes in a person’s breath profile. Hence, VOCs can be measured as markers for diseases like Covid-19.

 

The Breathonix’s breathalyzer works quite similar to that of GeNose. A person only needs to blow into a disposable mouthpiece connected to a “high-precision breath sampler”. The exhaled breath is collected and fed into a cutting-edge mass spectrometer for measurement. A machine learning software analyses the VOC profile and generates the result in less than a minute.

Mr Du, Chief Operating Officer of Breathonix, said – “The disposable mouthpiece that our system uses has a one-way valve and a saliva trap, preventing inhalation and any saliva from entering the machine. This makes cross-contamination unlikely.” It’s worth noting that this Breathonix Pte Ltd, a spin-off company from NUS, is not to be mistaken with Dutch company Breathomix.

 

Interestingly, the Netherlands too is to introduce rapid Covid-19 breath tests using a machine called “SpiroNose”. Breathomix (the different of “m” and “n” when compared to Singapore’s Breathonix) is the Dutch health tech company that plans to speed up the testing process across the nation using the same concept of analyzing VOCs in exhaled breath.

 

While it’s true that the breathalyzer is less reliable than the existing PCR test, which is the gold standard for detecting Covid-19 around the world, the breath analysis provides advantages that PCR does not. For example, 10,000 units of GeNose can test 1.2 million people per day, easily the highest testing rate in the world. But there’s another reason why Indonesia is rolling out the breathalyzer.

There have been increasing numbers of fake certificates showing a negative result being sold in Jakarta and Kalimantan. Three men who were caught last week of forging Coronavirus test results revealed that they had paid just 100,000 Indonesian rupiah (about US$7;  £5.20; RM29) for a negative result without undergoing any test.

 

As a result of dubious Covid-19 test reports produced by Indonesian arrivals, Taiwan has effectively banned – indefinitely – Indonesians since November 2020. Home to more than 250,000 migrant workers from the Southeast Asia nation, Taiwan has recorded 132 positive cases in arriving Indonesian workers – mostly domestic helpers – since October last year.

 

So far, Indonesia has registered 1,123,105 infections and 31,001 deaths. But another country in the region that is struggling to contain the pandemic is Malaysia. Curiously, Malaysian backdoor Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is currently making a “lightning visit” to Indonesia. Could he be seeking advice from President Joko Widodo about the breathalyzer?

 

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February 5th, 2021 by financetwitter

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