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Canadian study compares COVID-19 spit test to traditional swab test

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A new study led by researchers at The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa and the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory shows that a Canadian-made spit test can detect the COVID-19 virus.  Although it does not pick up as many cases as the traditional swab test, the spit test is more comfortable than swab testing, which requires a health-care provider to insert a swab in the back of the nose or throat.

The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, involved 1,939 people who came to the hospital’s COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Brewer Arena, and agreed to do both tests. To mimic mass screening, those being tested were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms….

https://media.uottawa.ca/news/canadian-study-compares-covid-19-spit-test-traditional-swab-test

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