The new test, called the “Daily Tampon”, is being trialled by the health ministry and is expected to be approved for production soon, Italian media reported on Wednesday.
The test was created by a Lombardy-based company called Allum, in collaboration with the Sannio University in the southern Italian town of Benevento.
Tampone is the Italian word for a swab test, but the makers named the test in English.
A saliva sample taken with a cotton swab is placed on the Daily Tampon which, similar to a pregnancy test, gives one of two results: two lines for positive, one line for negative.
It differs from the current rapid tests being used at some Italian airports, which instead require a sample of nose and throat secretions and give results within around two hours.
