With the widespread of COVID-19 all over, Abbott Laboratories is unveiling a coronavirus test and claims that it can tell if someone is affected within less than 5 minutes. It is so small and portable; it can be used in almost any health-care setting. The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, Vice President of Research and Development at Abbott Diagnostics.
The molecular test looks for fragments of the coronavirus genome, which can be detected in as little as five minutes when it’s present at high levels. A thorough search to definitively rule out an infection can take up to 13 minutes, he said.
Last week, Abbotts m2000 RealTime system got U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use in hospitals and molecular laboratories to diagnose the infection. That system can churn through more tests daily, up to 1 million a week, but it takes longer to get the results. Abbott plans to provide at least 5 million tests a month between the two systems.
