Rapid detection of pathogens is essential to minimise the spread of infectious diseases and mitigate their negative impact on societies. As a case in point, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide, causing billions of dollars of damage to economies. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) serves as the gold standard method to detect the presence of pathogens, but it requires specialised and expensive instrumentation as well as trained personnel to operate the equipment and interpret the results. Hence, to enable decentralised widespread testing, there is a need for rapid, easy-to-use, and affordable technologies that can specifically and sensitively identify pathogens. Our team has leveraged on isothermal amplification methods, CRISPR-Cas enzymes, and proprietary probes to develop diagnostic assays for COVID-19. The test results can be conveniently obtained either from paper strips that are similar to pregnancy sticks or a 3D-printed handheld fluorescence reader-cum-heater. We have also developed a mobile phone app to interpret the results for a layperson. Furthermore, our technologies are price-competitive and each assay will cost around the same amount as an antigen rapid test (ART). Clinical validations have shown that our assays are highly specific and can achieve a sensitivity 10-fold better than existing ARTs in the market. Collectively, our technologies can help societies to address COVID-19 and any other disease outbreaks in the future.