AI-powered breath test detects covid among Emiratis within seconds

Even as a robust vaccination drive is underway in the Emirates, testing and tracing of covid positive patients remains a crucial tool for containing infections. The year of the pandemic saw deployment of data collection, online apps and devices to detect symptoms of covid in public spaces of the UAE, for successfully keeping an outbreak at bay. With negative test results becoming a key document for international travel, quicker and convenient procedures are being developed to scale up covid detection. Continuing its legacy of adopting latest innovations in tech, Dubai has started experimenting with a breath test, which can spot covid in less than a minute. The device developed by University of Singapore-backed firm Breathonix, uses machine learning to identify volatile organic compound created by biochemical reactions, to give results in seconds.