Introducing the handheld sensors that can ’smell’ Covid-19

Research involving Durham has found that electronic sensors can detect the distinct odour of Covid-19 with almost 100 per cent accuracy. The electronic devices could potentially be used in public spaces as a screening tool to identify people carrying the virus. Odour fingerprint The small-scale study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, shows that Covid-19 infection has a distinct smell, due to changes in the volatile organic compounds (VOC) which make up the body odour - generating a so-called odour 'fingerprint' that the sensors can detect. The research team, made up of scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), biotech company RoboScientific Ltd. and Durham University, tested devices with organic semi-conducting (OSC) sensors. They used body odour samples from socks worn by infected and uninfected people. Electronic devices Based on the findings, two types of devices are being explored for development - a portable handheld device and a room-based device. The handheld device could detect if a person is Covid-positive from their body odour and could be used in public spaces instead of the now widely available PCR and LFT testing as a faster, less invasive method to identify people with the virus.