Don't worry, that could be a thing of the past soon.
A new technique
Scientists in Thailand are reportedly hard at work developing a COVID-19 test which uses the sweat found on below your armpits.Eww. Interesting, but eww.
According to a report by AFP, a pilot test has been done on shopkeepers at a Bangkok food market last week and interestingly, the tests found that people infected with COVID-19 secrete very distinct chemicals.
Chulalongkorn University's Dr Chadin Kulsing told the news agency that the researchers then managed to invent a device that helps them detect such chemicals in a COVID-19 patient's body.
"We used this finding to develop a device to detect the specific odours produced by certain bacteria in the sweat of COVID-19 patients,” Dr Chadin was quoted saying.
Dr Chadin further explained that the equipment used for the test is usually used to detect toxic chemicals in the environment.
To test, subjects will have to place a cotton swab under their arms for 15 minutes, before putting the swab in glass vial and sterilising it with ultraviolet rays.
After that, the necessary sample is drawn using a suction hose and pressurised into an analyser to check the results.
This may sound really tedious, but Dr Chadin said that results will be known in just 30 seconds.
However, the whole thing is still in the development stage though -- the research behind it has yet to be published nor peer-revieed -- but here's the interesting bit: Dr Chadin revealed that this new swab test technique has an accuracy rate of 95 per cent.
Hey, we certainly don't mind placing a cotton swab under our ketiak compared to having it shoved up our noses. Where can we sign up to become a test subject?