Abbott Gets Approval for a Coronavirus Test that Can Get Results in 5 Minutes

One of the biggest issues with the coronavirus pandemic is that there are not enough tests for people to take to see if they have it. Many current tests also take days to get results with.

American medical devices and health care company Abbott announced this week that it has received approval for a test that can detect the coronavirus in as little as five minutes. The test can detect negative results in only 13 minutes.

The company said it will be making these tests available to health care providers as soon as next week and also plans to ramp up its manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests a day.

Abbott said the Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization for the point-of-care test last Friday.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will be fought on multiple fronts, and a portable molecular test that offers results in minutes adds to the broad range of diagnostic solutions needed to combat this virus,” Abbott Chief Operating Officer Robert Ford stated.

Abbott has already launched another coronavirus test and between the two tests, the company expects to product around 5 million tests a month.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now over 591,802 cases of the coronavirus with at least 26,996 deaths. In the U.S., there are at least 101,657 cases of the coronavirus with at least 1,581 deaths.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and have not been compensated for this article.