Canadian firm approved to produce rapid COVID-19 testing device: media

OTTAWA - A Canadian bioscience company has got the Canadian federal government's approval for production of a device it claims can show COVID-19 test results in less than an hour, according to CTV Sunday.

The Spartan Cube, developed by Spartan Bioscience, is already in use for the testing of sexually transmitted diseases, legionnaires disease and strep throat, among other infections.

"You take a swab and you actually take the tip of the swab into this cartridge and then you put into this portable DNA analyzer," Spartan Bioscience CEO Paul Lem told CTV News. "In less than an hour, you get your COVID-19 test results."

Under current testing models in Canada, swabs must be sent to centers in large cities for testing, which can lead to delays in results and backlogs at laboratories.

The company estimated it can produce 1.5 million such test devices each month.