Minister Of Research And Technology: GeNose Detects COVID-19 Less Than 3 Minutes Through Exhale

Minister of Research and Technology (Menristek) Bambang PS Brodjonegoro (ANTARA / HO-Unair)

JAKARTA - Minister of Research and Technology (Menristek) Bambang PS Brodjonegoro said the COVID-19 screening tool, GeNose, can detect COVID-19 using a breath in less than three minutes.

"It only took less than three minutes, so we were immediately caught positive or negative," said Menristek Bambang as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 8.

GeNose can be an option for COVID-19 detection, especially for those who are not comfortable with the detection of COVID-19 through blood such as rapid test kits and specimens on antigen swab tests.

"The most important thing is to only use exhalation because many people complain of antigens, wow I just plug my nose," he said.

Minister of Research and Technology Bambang said that currently GeNose is in the process of validation, especially to see its accuracy. GeNose is estimated to have 95 percent accuracy in detecting COVID-19.

"The results are quite fast and currently being validated, the accuracy of the estimate from the validation of more than 1,000 patients reaches 95 percent, so it is very high and very practical and another is relatively cheap, maybe Rp. 15,000 per test," he said.

GeNose is a non-invasive tool and uses artificial intelligence to analyze the presence of COVID-19.

There are three main parts related to the working mechanism of GeNose, namely an array of sensors that will respond to compounds in exhalation, electronic devices specifically designed to carry compounds from exhalation to sensors, and software to analyze in revealing the presence of COVID-19.