Abbott Labs Will Have A 5-Minute Coronavirus Test For Use Almost Anywhere On April 1

Abbott virus detection machine Source: Abbott Laboratories

Bloomberg: Abbott Launches 5-Minute Virus Test for Use Almost Anywhere

Abbott Laboratories is unveiling a coronavirus test that can tell if someone is infected in as little as five minutes, and is so small and portable it can be used in almost any health-care setting.

The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics. The molecular test looks for fragments of the coronavirus genome, which can quickly be detected when present at high levels. A thorough search to definitively rule out an infection can take up to 13 minutes, he said.

Abbott has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “for use by authorized laboratories and patient care settings,” the company said on Friday.

The U.S. has struggled to supply enough tests to detect the virus, even as the outbreak threatens to overwhelm hospitals in New York, California, Washington and other regions. After initially restricting testing to high-risk people, and problems with a test designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. regulators have rushed out diagnostics made by the world’s leading commercial-testing companies.

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WNU Editor: This is good news. The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, and I am sure that is going to be increased in the weeks following this initial roll-out.