The US Food and Drug Administration FDA has approved the Molecular Test Kit, by Abbott which can detect novel coronavirus infections within minutes. This test kit can be used in a variety of locations, from hospital emergency rooms, to general clinics, to physicians’ offices. This coronavirus test kit is lightweight and easy to use.
Abbott says they will start sending the kit to US healthcare providers next week. Abbott’s coronavirus test will be run on its “ID NOW” platform, which is already used for rapidly diagnosing patients who are sick with things like influenza and strep throat.
This test searches for fragments of the coronavirus genome in samples taken by the throat or nose swab. It can deliver a positive result in less than five minutes and a negative result in 13 minutes. The weight of this test kit is about 7 pounds.
The test kit will dramatically reduce coronavirus testing time . In fact, the results of the test can take up to a week, a delay that will endanger the life of a particularly high-risk person . John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics, told Bloomberg News. “A clinic will be able to turn that result around quickly, while the patient is waiting .
No information has been available as to when Abbott will deliver this test kit internationally .
