Dutch inventor Peter van Wees has come up with an innovative COVID-19 test that does not require a swab, according to Reuters.
In so-called "shouting booth", an air-locked cabin, people have to shout something at the top of their lungs; afterwards, an industrial air purifier will analyse the emitted particles and report whether coronavirus is present or not.
"If you have coronavirus and are infectious and yelling and screaming you are spreading tens of thousands of particles which contain coronavirus," Van Wees said, as quoted by Reuters.
The whole process would take less than three minutes.
Can a "scream test" beat nasal swabs as a faster, easier COVID-19 test?
— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 6, 2021
"It's always very nice to scream," said a woman who tried the test. pic.twitter.com/OdTuMd2goL
To test his method, the inventor has set up a booth on the outskirts of Amsterdam, next to a medical centre, and has invited people who have already passed a COVID-19 test and know their result to try it.
The country's health officials have not yet commented on the invention, as they know little about it.
Moreover, there is another COVID-19 test on offer, a rectal PCR test which Chinese doctors consider more accurate than any other method.
