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The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved molecular testing for diagnosing Infections of COVID within 5 minutes. Abbott Laboratories announced that the US FDA has approved the emergency use authorization to its COVID-19 test.

Abbott’s COVID test is small and compact, making it easy to use it in a variety of healthcare settings from emergency rooms in hospitals to physician’s offices.

The test will look for the coronavirus genome’s fragments in the collected samples through the COVID suspect’s throat or nose swab.

The test delivers positive results for coronavirus in just 5 minutes while within 13 minutes for negative results.

Abbott’s test will play an efficacious role in aggregating the speed of identifying and isolating the COVID infected people by the health care providers.

Video Courtesy: Abbott/Products and innovations

The company is expecting to execute shipping the test kit to health care providers by the next week. Additionally, claiming to deliver 50000 test kit units daily by April 1.

Senior VP, Rapid Diagnostics, Abbott said

“Through the incredible work of teams across Abbott, we expect to deliver 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to healthcare professionals on the front lines, where testing capabilities are needed most”

COVID Test Kit

The Abbott’s COVID test runs on Abbott’s ID NOW platform, used for diagnosing patients suffering from Influenza A&B, RSV testing and strep throat. ID NOW is the most common point of care test in the US.

According to the FDA’s authorization letter, the technology going to be used for the COVID test is similar to technology used in rapid flu tests.

Further adding Robert Ford, President, and COO, Abbott, told

“With rapid testing on ID NOW, healthcare providers can perform molecular point-of-care testing outside the traditional four walls of a hospital in outbreak hotspots,”

As John Frels, VP, R&D at Abbott Diagnostics, told Bloomberg News

“This is going to provide a tremendous opportunity for front-line caregivers, those having to diagnose a lot of infections, to close the gap with our testing,”.

In a further statement, Abbott told

“Testing remains a crucial step in controlling the novel COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing to supply healthcare providers with new technologies to help curb the spread of infection is a top priority for public health officials and healthcare providers,”

Amid sudden geometric progress in COVID cases in the US, the need for instantaneous COVID test results is needed. Two major companies LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, kept an average deliver date of the coronavirus test around 4 to 5 days, which more than Abbot COVID test allows for.

After research that smokers may have more risk of COVID, High-risk patients also confront a serious problem while detecting the coronavirus test. The waiting time for the test encircles them with life risk, as their treatment may be needed to stop to isolate them.

Even after the low rate of COVID testing, the US has accounted highest confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the world. The US has surpassed China, Italy, and Spain.

While the testing capabilities of the US are bottoming out, but amid the current outbreak of COVID 19, the US healthcare system facing a shortage of critical medical supplies, including ventilators, masks for healthcare workers.