Healthcare technology maker, Abbott, has developed a new portable COVID-19 test that can tell if someone is infected in only five minutes, without requiring a roundtrip to the lab. It seems to be the fastest device yet to produce results.
The Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test has received emergency clearance for use by the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and hopes to begin production later this week, with around 50,000 manufactured each day.
The test runs on technology from Abbott’s ID NOW diagnostics platform, which is the most common point-of-care test available in the U.S., with over 18,000 units across the country. It’s widely used across doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and care clinics to detect strep throat, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus.
How does the test work? Samples of saliva and mucus are swabbed from the patient’s nose or the back of the throat. Then, the swab is mixed with a chemical solution that breaks open the virus and releases its RNA. That mixture is then inserted into an ID Now system, which is a small 7-pound box that can identify and amplify select sequences of the COVID-19 genome while ignoring any contamination from other viruses.
The good thing about Abbott’s new device is that it can be set up almost anywhere. However, the company is working with its customers and the Trump administration to ensure that the first shipment of tests is sent to where they need it the most, including urgent-care clinics, hospital emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices.
In April, Abbott aims to produce about 5 million tests, split between these new 5-minute tests and the lab tests that it got emergency use authorization for by the FDA on the 18th of March.
One of the earliest problems faced by the U.S., as far as getting a handle on the COVID-19 outbreak situation goes, has been testing its people. Experts believe this lack of testing has hampered the country’s ability to track and trace the spread of the virus accurately.
