Faster COVID-19 testing with simple algebraic equations

A mathematician from Cardiff University has developed a new method for processing large volumes of COVID-19 tests which he believes could lead to significantly more tests being performed at once and results being returned much quicker. Dr Usama Kadri, from the University's School of Mathematics, believes the new technique could allow many more patients to be tested using the same amount of tests tubes and with a lower possibility of false negatives occurring. Dr Kadri's technique, which has been published in the journal Health Systems , uses simple algebraic equations to identify positive samples in tests and takes advantage of a testing technique known as 'pooling'. Pooling involves grouping a large number of samples from different patients into one test tube and performing a single test on that tube. If the tube is returned negative then you know that everybody from that group does not have the virus. Pooling can be applied by laboratories to test more samples in a shorter space of time, and works well when the overall infection rate in a certain population is expected to be low. If a tube is returned positive then each person within that group needs to be tested once again, this time individually, to determine who has the virus.