FDA-authorized Abbott portable kit detects COVID-19 in just 5 minutes

The company says that the new Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test runs on Abbott's ID NOWTM platform, a lightweight box, almost the size of a small toaster, that can sit in a variety of locations.

US healthcare company Abbott Laboratories on Friday said that it has received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the detection of novel coronavirus (COVID-19, targeting the coronavirus RdRp Gene.

The small-sized, portable kit is not restricted to traditional hospitals and delivers positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, cutting testing wait time from hours to few minutes.

The company says that the new Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test runs on Abbott's ID NOWTM platform, a lightweight box, almost the size of a small toaster, that can sit in a variety of locations. Abbott ID NOW is a leading molecular point-of-care platform in the United States for Influenza A&B, Strep A, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) testing.

According to Abbott, the molecular testing technologies help detect the presence of a virus by identifying a small section of the virus' genome, then amplifying that portion until there's enough for detection.

"We're ramping up production to deliver 50,000 ID NOW COVID-19 tests per day, beginning next week, to the U.S. healthcare system. Combined with ID NOW, Abbott expects to produce about 5 million tests in April," the company said in a statement.

The kit is available only in the United States.