DIAGNOSTIC TESTING FOR COVID-19 infections is one of the linchpins of the global effort to combat the deadly pandemic. But the strategy normally used for that has a few downsides. For one, the nasopharyngeal swabbing required demands the services of a health care worker, who is then put at risk of contracting the disease. Also, the sample-taking procedure, which involves sticking a very long flexible swab through a nostril and into the nasopharynx at the back of the nose and throat, is so unpleasant that some people resist being tested. And because the samples must normally be sent to a distant lab for processing, it often takes hours to days for results to become available. (1) What the world desperately needs is a way to diagnose infections with the virus more quickly and easily. Breakthroughs here would allow for truly widespread testing and the identification of people with asymptomatic infections, who often inadvertently spread the disease. (2) Researchers across the world have been racing to develop better COVID-19 tests, and biochemists and molecular biologists have made significant progress in just a handful of months. But engineers, too, have been working on technologies that might provide what everyone so dearly wants: inexpensive tests that don't require swabbing and that can be rapidly performed by anyone, anywhere - if not for this pandemic, then perhaps in time for the next one.

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争夺：此时此刻的 COVID-19 测试：快速、高科技、随处使用的诊断测试是对抗流行病的关键 - [测试]


COVID-19 感染的诊断测试是全球抗击这一致命流行病的关键之一。但通常用于此目的的策略有一些缺点。首先，鼻咽拭子需要医护人员的服务，而医护人员则面临感染疾病的风险。此外，取样过程需要将一根很长的柔性拭子穿过鼻孔并插入鼻子和喉咙后部的鼻咽部，这非常令人不愉快，以至于有些人拒绝接受检测。由于样本通常必须送往遥远的实验室进行处理，因此通常需要数小时至数天才能获得结果。 (1) 世界迫切需要一种更快速、更轻松地诊断病毒感染的方法。这方面的突破将允许真正广泛的检测和识别无症状感染者，这些人经常无意中传播疾病。 (2) 世界各地的研究人员一直在竞相开发更好的 COVID-19 检测方法，生物化学家和分子生物学家在短短几个月内就取得了重大进展。但工程师们也一直在研究可能提供每个人都迫切想要的东西的技术：不需要拭子的廉价测试，并且可以由任何人在任何地方快速进行 - 如果不是为了这次大流行，那么也许及时为下一张。