coronavirus test known as DnaNudge that gives results in just over an hour and which requires no laboratory was accurate in almost all cases, according to an academic review in the Lancet.

The new test, based on the design of a DNA test developed by a professor at Imperial College London, received approval for clinical use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) at the end of April after successful trials.

In a study in The Lancet Microbe, the test was found to have an average sensitivity - the ability to correctly identify those with Covid-19 - of 94.4% and a specificity - correctly identifying those without the disease - of 100%.

"These results suggest that the CovidNudge test, which can be performed at a patient's bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing," Professor Graham Cooke, lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said.

"Many tests involve a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but this test manages to achieve both," Cooke said.