New, promising COVID-19 breath test powered by YANMAR

On 18 February, a two-week official validation test started with a new, revolutionary COVID-19 rapid testing method: a breath test with the QuBA (Quick Breath Analyzer). Fast, safe, reliable and – very important – without any nasty swabs in your nose and throat. The test could be a huge breakthrough in getting social life back on track.

For the test, you step into a cabin and let your voice be heard. Or sing out loud, if you prefer. “If you only blow, you have fewer possible virus particles in your breath,” explains Peter van Wees, the inventor of the QuBA. With this test, about 120 people per hour know within a minute whether they are contagious or not.

But what does this have to do with YANMAR? Well, YANMAR and Brinkmann & Niemeijer from Twello, The Netherlands, supplier of power generators, are cooperating by making available a power generator equipped with a clean and silent Stage V diesel engine from YANMAR. This enables the test cabin to run reliably on its own power.

“When I heard that the Stage V YANMAR engines were now also being built into generators, I called immediately. A world in which we care for each other, our health and the environment is very important to me. An environmentally friendly power supply therefore fits in perfectly with the QuBA objective,” says Van Wees.

The QuBA validation test is carried out in parallel in a commercial COVID-19 test line and is successful if at least 80% of the results match the standard PCR tests. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) also closely monitors the results.