The Freedom by ViraWarn device demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas can tell users if they have Covid, the flu or if they are perfectly healthy within seconds from one single breath.

Freedom is a shrunken down version of the company’s larger detectors called Liberty that have been deployed in high-end hotels that can tell the room is Covid free at a glance.

So how does it work?

ViraWarn has patented and proprietary technology called Charge Transference.

The sensors onboard can detect the spike proteins on the outer shell of the Covid particle when they drift through the engineered media.

This causes unique polarised signatures which are detected by ViraWarn’s advanced biosensors.

These are sent to the device’s processor to screen out false positives using specialised algorithms.

A red LED light indicates Covid, amber is used for the flu and green means you’re all clear.

And on top of its accuracy, Freedom can also detect all the variants of Covid, current and future.

Inside the unit is a cartridge that will last for 300 tests before it needs replacing.

Company chairman and co-founder, Conrad Bessemer says Covid enters our body through our nose and mouth and can take up to 14 days to infect us when it settles in our nasal passages and throats.

The Freedom device can detect that presence when it’s in our body whereas a PCR test can only detect COVID when it’s taken up residence up our noses and in our throats.

Bessemer says the device is also called Freedom for a reason.

“High0risk individuals will finally be able to regain their freedom again…the freedom to visit their loved ones…the freedom to breathe worry-free indoors again…the freedom to live life like they used to before the pandemic,” Bessemer says.

“And that is what the true benefit the Liberty by ViraWarn will bring – a return to normalcy.”

And Freedom is set to get even smaller.

ViraWarn is planning on releasing a version of Freedom that can fit in a pocket, a bag or glove box that will be about the size of an e-cigarette or a personal breathalyser.

This article was written in collaboration with Tech Guide’s Stephen Fenech who travelled to Las Vegas with support from LG, Samsung and Hisense.