US-based Abbott develops portable 5-minute test to detect COVID-19

US-based healthcare firm Abbott Laboratories has developed a portable test that can tell if someone has been infected with the deadly coronavirus in just five minutes. The device is only the size of a small toaster and hence, can be put to use outside hospitals, in any healthcare setting. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the coronavirus test an emergency authorisation to begin making the test available to healthcare providers as early as next week.

Named ID NOW COVID-19 test, it uses molecular technology to detect coronavirus infection. The test also shows negative results within 13 minutes, the company said in a press statement. Currently, laboratory-developed tests can take between four to eight hours to deliver results.

"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," AFP reported citing Abbott president and chief operating officer Robert Ford. The test's small size means it can be deployed outside the "traditional four walls of a hospital in outbreak hotspots," Ford said. 

The John Hopkins University’s real-time ticker showed that the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the US are now at 1,00,717. The number includes 1,544 deaths due to the virus.

Abbott is working with the FDA to send it to virus epicenters. The company said it would be making ID NOW COVID-19 tests available next week with the ability to deliver 50,000 tests per day, reported Forbes. 

Abbott had gained worldwide recognition for developing diagnostic tests, particularly for infectious diseases like AIDS. It was the developer of the first HIV test. 

The ID NOW tests of Abbott, launched in 2014, is also a molecular point-of-care platform for Influenza A & B, Strep A and RSV testing in the US, the company said.