A new peer-reviewed study published in Science Advances confirms the success of a new COVID-19 pooling test that identifies all positive subjects, including asymptomatic carriers, in a single round of testing.

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P-BEST, an algorithmic method for pooling-based efficient SARS-CoV-2 testing, was developed by a group of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN), The Open University of Israel (OUI), and Soroka University Medical Center.

"Approximately 10 to 30% of COVID-19-infected patients are asymptomatic and significant viral spread can occur days before symptom onset," says Prof. Angel Porgador, BGU deputy vice president of research and development and member of the NIBN. "Until there is a vaccine, there will be an urgent need to increase diagnostic testing capabilities to allow for screening of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic populations. This new single-stage diagnostic test will help prevent the spread of the disease by identifying these patients sooner and at a lower cost using significantly fewer tests."