Italian pharmaceutical company Menarini IFR stated on Wednesday that the new test launched by A Menarini Diagnostics detects presence of antigens in 12 minutes as well as provides an indication of the viral load that detect the most infectious COVID-19 patients.

The company added that theses tests are different from molecular biology tests because they check for the presence of antigens and therefore potential infection by looking for specific viral proteins. AFIAS Point-of-Care platform can be used in decentralized environments not directly connected to the analysis laboratory, such as emergency rooms, airports and other situations where time or patient comfort matters.

Currently, the company's AFIAS 1 can manage a one-time test and AFIAS 6 allows six samples to be analyzed at the same time. It can be used to perform serological antibody tests to detect the presence and measure the amount of IgM and IgG antibodies in the patient's blood.

In addition, the same AFIAS instrument can be used for serological antibody tests to measure the amount of IgM and IgG antibodies in the patient's blood. The process is the same, with the only variation being the analyzed sample time. The sample is taken by capillary puncture (capillary blood collection) or by venous blood collection, concluded the company.