"Abbott has received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the fastest available molecular point-of-care test for the detection of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), delivering positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes", the company said in a press release.
According to Abbott, the particular advantage of its tests is their size – a 6.6-pound lightweight box with a size of a small toaster – which makes it possible to use them outside of hospitals in places like the physicians' office or urgent care clinics.
28 March 2020, 14:53 GMT
The company said it would ramp up production to deliver 50,000 ID NOW COVID-19 tests per day, beginning next week.
Last week, another US company, Cepheid, said its tests got FDA's emergency use authorisation. Its Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2 use the rapid molecular diagnostic method to detect the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19, vowing to deliver results in 45 minutes.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 100,000 on Friday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins University real-time tracker.
