Washington – A U.S. rapid coronavirus diagnostic test that has been ordered by 36 countries is not working properly. That was admitted on Wednesday by the US health authority CDC, which developed the test.
When tested in laboratories in several U.S. states, the tests did not produce a clear result, positive or negative, said CDC director of respiratory diseases, Nancy Messonnier. Presumably one of the three substances for the detection of the virus does not work uniformly.
Test should deliver diagnosis within four hours
The CDC had started sending rapid tests to certified laboratories in all 50 states in the past week. According to the agency, 36 countries have ordered the test to deliver a diagnosis within four hours.
The new virus called Covid-19 has infected over 44,000 people worldwide, most of them in mainland China. The causative agent of the lung disease first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December. Since then, more than 1,100 people have died, more than the Sars epidemic around 17 years ago. (APA / AFP)
