Millions of COVID-19 diagnostic tests will become available to public health labs and hospitals this week, according to the White House and federal health agencies.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Friday told reporters that public and private entities were ramping up production. The news came shortly after President Trump signed a bill giving the Food and Drug Administration $61 million for COVID-19 response efforts, according to Inside Health Policy. Azar anticipated that there would soon be enough kits to conduct up to four million tests, the news outlet reported.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it has developed its own diagnostic test. Public health labs in 50 states and the District of Columbia were using the tests by Sunday evening, the agency stated in a Monday update.
In addition, commercial labs are working to develop their own tests. LabCorp in Burlington, N.C., made its test available on March 5. Quest Diagnostics, Secaucus, N.J., announced on Monday that it had begun providing access to a COVID-19 testing service for patients in the United States.
The news follows reports of shortages and uncertainty about when and where more tests will become available.
