An automated, simple, affordable and robust system allowing the diagnosis of Covid-19 at home or in a medical service, by a non-specialist operator, from a saliva sample. – W-COVID

The W-covid project consists in designing an automated, simple, economical and robust system allowing the diagnosis of covid-19 at home or in a medical service, by an non-specialist operator, using a saliva swab.

The system consists of three main parts:
- a consumable pre-filled tube for saliva collection,
- a one time use microfluidic cartridge (accommodates an RT-LAMP reaction),
- an analysis station.

This system is different from available options on the market due to:
- ease of use (one manual operation),
- low cost (around 500 € for the analysis station and 50 € per cartridge),
- its excellent sensitivity and high specificity (equal to or greater than PCR methods),
- its rapidity (one hour versus four hours or more for PCR).

Withings will design, industrialize and distribute the above-mentionned steps, building on the expertise of several European and Asian partners.