One of the problems faced by hospitals around the world is that testing kits for the COVID-19 virus are scarce, and with the number of infected cases rising, some hospitals are only choosing to use their test kits for patients that exhibit more severe symptoms, or at least symptoms that are more in line with the virus.
It also generally involves patients having to go to a hospital to get tested, and given the number of sick people in a hospital, some are undoubtedly worried about getting infected if they aren’t. Medical company Abbott wants to solve that problem and the good news for patients and healthcare facilities is that the FDA has given the approval for a mobile COVID-19 test kit.
As you can see in the image above, Abbott’s ID NOW COVID-19 testing kit is small and portable. This means that healthcare officials could set up mobile testing stations in multiple locations away from hospitals, and the best part is that the test results only take about 5 minutes to complete. This means that testing can be done quickly and on a larger scale, thus identifying and isolating patients who test positive for it.
To date, the ID NOW testing kit seems to be the fastest amongst the testing kits we’ve seen to date. Previously, it was reported that Japan had developed a testing kit of their own that takes 10 minutes, but it looks like Abbott now has them beat.
Filed in . Read more about Coronavirus, Covid-19, Health and Social Hit. Source: abbott