A Toronto-based Pakistani Doctor Naqeeb Khalid has developed an instant COVID-19 diagnostic test using a smartphone.

The development was shared by the High Commissioner for Pakistan to Canada Raza Bashir Tarar, who congratulated the doctor for the achievement, Dr. Naqeeb Khalid, who led the development of smartphone-based diagnostic test for COVID-19.

The High Commissioner said the idea of a COVID-19 test being displayed and communicated by the smartphone is laudable, reported Radio Pakistan.

Raza Bashir Tarar hoped that clinical trials of the innovation would prove its efficacy for the COVID-19 test and pave the way for necessary approvals before put to use at the mass level.

Dr Naqeeb Khalid who graduated from King Edward Medical University in 1983 before acquiring experience in invention of medical devices and systems, told the High Commissioner that his innovation is based on a digital platform that displays the result instantly on any smartphone and can also communicate or store the results along with time and GPS information.

He said that instant, accurate and low-cost testing that does not rely on laboratory testing is essential in containing the pandemic and together with vaccines, we can control the COVID-19 outbreak and return our lives and economies to normal.

A smartphone App will be available for download from the AppStore.