IMAGE: RAPID, a low-cost COVID-19 diagnostic test can detect SARS-CoV-2 within four minutes with 90 percent accuracy Image: Penn Medicine PHILADELPHIA--A low-cost, rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 developed by Penn Medicine provides COVID-19 results within four minutes with 90 percent accuracy. A paper published this week in Matter details the fast and inexpensive diagnostic test, called RAPID 1.0 (Real-time Accurate Portable Impedimetric Detection prototype 1.0). Compared to existing methods for COVID-19 detection, RAPID is inexpensive and highly scalable, allowing the production of millions of units per week. Despite the urgency of the pandemic, most available methods for COVID-19 testing use RT-PCR--reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction--to detect SARS-CoV-2. Though effective, the technique requires large laboratory space and trained workers to employ. These tests are also costly, they run a risk of cross-contamination, and can take hours or days to provide results.