The UK Health Department has announced the beginning of trials of a new COVID-19 test that would take only up to 20 minutes to deliver results.
Trials of the new test, which detects whether people are carrying the virus or not, have been kicked off in Hampshire.
The department said that the new testing method, called loop-mediated isothermal amplification, “has been proven effective in clinical settings”.
The test would be tried out in hospital accident and emergency departments. The trial plan would involve about 4,000 individuals and would last up to six weeks.
The success of the new test would support the UK governments plans for handling the projected second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The United Kingdom is currently taking steps to ease the lockdown which was announced on 23 March. The country is expected to enter a second phase of easing the stay-at-home restrictions by 1 June.
As of Thursday, the UK has registered over 252,200 COVID-19 infections, and 36,124 have succumbed to the virus.