(CNN) The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized a saliva test for "emergency use" for diagnosing Covid-19. Rutgers University, where the test was developed in collaboration with other groups, announced the FDA authorization on Tuesday after formally receiving it over the weekend.

Using saliva to diagnose novel coronavirus infections could expand testing capacities across the United States. So far testing for Covid-19 has usually involved nose or throat swabs.

"It means we no longer have to put health care professionals at risk for infection by performing nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal collections," Andrew Brooks, chief operating officer and director of technology development at the university's RUCDR Infinite Biologics lab, said in a news release on Tuesday.

"We can preserve precious personal protective equipment for use in patient care instead of testing. We can significantly increase the number of people tested each and every day as self-collection of saliva is more quick and scalable than swab collections," Brooks said. "All of this combined will have a tremendous impact on testing in New Jersey and across the United States."

According to Rutgers University's news release, this is the first such saliva test to receive emergency use authorization from the FDA. Brooks, a professor at the university, called the impact of the authorization "significant."