A member of the GeNose C19 Research and Development Team, Dian Kesumapramudya Nurputra, said three industrial sectors are currently still operating the GeNose C19 to detect the possibility of Covid-19 in a live dialogue of one of the news social media accounts. The two sectors include health and corporate. The absence of the GeNose C19 in transportation corridors does not mean that the GeNose C19 is no longer an alternative Covid-19 screening tool in other sectors.
“The GeNose C19 is not being used only in transportation. It is still being used in hospitals and various companies. Currently, we are still evaluating the test result data that comes in through the tool and the quality of service. The external validation process by Universitas Airlangga and Universitas Indonesia is also still ongoing,” said Dian on Monday (12/7).
The GeNose C19 will be marketed in February 2021 after passing concept tests and clinical trials. Now, it is going through post-marketing tests or external validation tests. The process of the three exams has been following the regulations in force in Indonesia.
According to Dian, developing and implementing innovative technologies such as the GeNose C19 is full of challenges. The breath analyzer or breathalyzer method in Indonesia for disease examination is not very popular yet in Indonesia.
Currently, the United States, Israel, Singapore, the Netherlands, and France are also developing tools similar to the GeNose C19. “But once again the designs of the six countries are different. While devices in other countries require users to breathe directly into the device, GeNose C19 does not. The direct breath method has advantages and disadvantages from a medical point of view. This is why we use the bag for GeNose C19,” explained Dian, who was still in self-isolation during the dialogue.
The technique of examining disease through bursts of breath is not a method that is not unknown in medical science. It has been developed since 2008 in many countries to examine the metabolic results of lung, nasopharyngeal, and gastric ulcer infections.
A disease virus can be checked by looking at three things. First, by checking the body of the virus, second the bodily reaction to the virus, and third the metabolic products of the virus. The first method is applied by PCR test, the second by Antigen and Antibody, and the third method approach is applied by GeNose C19. GeNose C19 detects viral metabolism in the form of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC).
There are four types of GeNose C19 test results: weak positive, strong positive, weak negative, and strong negative. These results relate to the possibility of when the test patient was exposed to Covid-19. If the user is symptomatic and has been exposed to Covid-19 for several days, GeNose C19 will read the VOC from the user’s breath sample as a strong positive.
“All the test kits must have negatives and false positives, so it is important to assess the test results according to the capacity of the test kits and the presence or absence of symptoms in the patient,” said Dian. If the test result is positive, the patient needs to repeat the test the next day with GeNose C19 as well to be sure. If it is still positive, the patient can immediately undergo a PCR test.
GeNose C19 with AI technology is designed to provide affordable services to the community. The low price is caused by several factors.
First, the tool costs approximately IDR 70 million per unit and can be used hundreds and thousands of times. Therefore, the service tariff, which ranges from Rp. 30-50 thousand is very affordable for the public. For service providers, cheap rates are also attractive from the business perspective.
Second, the Research and Development Team intends to help overcome Covid-19. Therefore, the cost component of artificial intelligence, which is usually expensive, up to billions of rupiah, is not used as a price component. The team wants to fully devote the innovative technology to the benefit of the wider community. The price of the Genose C19 unit should be affordable, especially in difficult times like this.
Third, GeNose C19 is a domestic product made by Indonesia based on measurable and scientific research results.
At the beginning of the launch, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) or the electronic brain of the GeNose C19 was version 1.1.2. Currently, AI version 1.3.2 build 7 is available. Every three months, the artificial intelligence will continue to be updated with more breath samples coming in and that means the GeNose C19 will become more accurate.
Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21364-dua-sektor-ini-masih-terapkan-tes-genose-c19-selama-ppkm
