FDA Approves First Rapid COVID-19 Test Gives Results in 45 Minutes

By Neil P. First Posted: Mar 22, 2020 06:55 AM EDT

(Photo : Reuters)

The United States Food and Drug Administration has announced its approval to use the COVID-19 testing kit that will give results or detections within 45 minutes according to a recently published article.

The United States has struggled to meet the demands of COVID-19 testing kits across the country. It can be recounted in the previous report of Latin Post, that Vice President Mike Pence announced that Trump's administration is clearing the red tape to open more testing sites in the country.

However, it was also found out that opening more testing sites in the country will be useless if the demand for testing swabs will not be met according to another report of Latin Post. At present, there are only few patients who can be tested for the virus due to the low production of the testing kits.

This is very alarming because testing kits are very important in diagnosing at an early stage if a person is positive for COVID-19. This will help to isolate and quarantine a person to stop the spread of the virus.

Luckily, this problem seems to end by next week because Cepheid, California-based molecular diagnostics company, announced on Saturday that they had received emergency use authorization from U.S. FDA. The testing kits are expected to give results within 45 minutes and will be used primarily by hospitals and emergency rooms.

Moreover, these kits will be shipped across the country starting next week. With the use of these testing kits that can give results in a short period of time, it is also expected that this will help flatten the curve and slow down the spread of the virus.

Typically, the current testing kits that are used right now to detect COVID-19 in the U.S. takes 24 hours to 3 days before they can get the results. This slow pace has greatly affected the country because while patients are waiting for their results, the greater is the chance that they can spread the virus or they will die while waiting if they are positive or not for the virus.

According to Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Medical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, if patients who are potential to have COVID-19 will not be detected quickly there is a great chance of community transmission and this could soon overwhelm the healthcare service and system of the country just like what happened in Wuhan, China.

Dr. Rod Hochman, CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, also released a statement last week. He described the testing capacity of the country as highly deficient. For him, waiting for 1 to 3 days before they can have the result of the test is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, aside from the testing kits that will be available next week across the country, Vice President Mike Pence also reiterated as to who qualifies for the test.

During the press conference, he said: "We want to remind Americans as Dr. Fauci will emphasize in a moment, if you don't have symptoms, don't do a test. It is another way that the American people can make sure that we are preserving the resources that our health care workers need to administer and support those who are dealing with the coronavirus and other illnesses."

Pence is advising everyone that only those who are symptomatic will be tested and those who are not showing any signs or symptoms of the virus do not need to have testing.

Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, also said on Saturday that the new tools will help them to make the tests much more easily and accessible to Americans who need it.

The delay of testing kits will cost the loss of lives according to the medical experts. It is the reason why this new testing kit should be made available across the country most especially that the number of cases continues to swell.

This is not the first time that testings kits are developed to detect the early stage of COVID-19. In the recent report of Latin Post, a Latina scientist Irene Bosch has also developed a testing kit that will give results in just 15 minutes.