A U.S. official told a World Health Organization meeting that Washington would participate in a program to boost Covid-19 testing, diagnostics and vaccines as the country joins global efforts to respond to the pandemic.
The first known U.S. case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant discovered in Britain was detected in Colorado on Dec. 29 as President-elect Joe Biden warned it could take years for most Americans to be vaccinated against Covid-19 at current distribution rates.
The United States set a one-day record with over 1 million coronavirus diagnostic tests being performed, but the country needs 6 million to 10 million a day to bring outbreaks under control, according to various experts.
Researchers are developing simpler Covid-19 diagnostic tests for use outside of labs in an effort to make mass testing available, fast and inexpensive.
Roche received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the company’s cobas 6800/8800 diagnostic tests for transplant patients.
The National Institutes of Health is investing $248.7 million in seven diagnostic companies with new testing technologies to increase their testing capacities and make millions of rapid Covid-19 tests per week available by fall.
A dramatic increase in Covid-19 testing and tracing is needed in order to put the United States on a surer path through the pandemic. But that diagnostics increase comes with a significant price tag of about $75 billion from the federal government, the Rockefeller Foundation said in its latest report.
The United States saw a 27 percent increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the week ended July 5 compared to the previous seven days, with 24 states reporting positivity test rates above the level that the World Health Organization flagged as concerning.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Becton Dickinson for a COVID-19 antigen test that can be administered at the point of care and produce results within 15 minutes.
Quest Diagnostics saw a higher recovery in the company’s testing volumes in the United States where state and local governments were slowly lifting restrictions after the coronavirus lockdowns.
