Coronavirus: US lab unveils portable 5-minute test

The US had given a lab emergency authorisation to begin distributing the test as early as next week

E.M.T.'s load a patient into an ambulance as health workers continued to test people for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outside the Brooklyn Hospital Centre in Brooklyn, March 27, 2020. Reuters

A US-based lab has unveiled a portable test that can tell if someone has coronavirus in as little as five minutes, it said in a statement Friday.

Abbot Laboratories said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given it emergency authorisation to begin making the test available to healthcare providers as early as next week.

The test, which is the size of a small toaster and uses molecular technology, also shows negative results within 13 minutes, the company said in a press statement.

"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," said Abbot 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, and Abbott is working with the FDA to send it to virus epicenters.

The test has not been cleared or approved by the FDA, and has only been authorised for emergency use by approved labs and healthcare providers, the company said.