Amid the Coronavirus outbreak when the country needs to amb up the COVID-19 testing, Global healthcare major Abbott on Monday said it has received CE mark for its laboratory-based serology blood tests for the virus and these tests will be available in India by the end of May.
The company said in a statement that it will begin shipping the tests to India during May and will scale up to meet the demands subsequently.
“Abbott has been singularly focused on bringing COVID-19 tests to market as quickly as possible to help address this pandemic. We are proud to be providing our antibody tests in the coming weeks as they will help understand who has had the virus, leading to greater confidence as we get to living life,” Abbott’s diagnostics business in India General Manager and Country Head Narendra Varde was quoted by PTI as saying.
The statement further read, “Antibody testing is an important step to tell if someone has been previously infected. It will provide more understanding of the virus including how long antibodies stay in the body and if they provide immunity.”
“This type of knowledge could help support the development of treatments and vaccines,” it added.
Abbott had earlier developed the first HIV test and has long been a global leader in infectious disease testing.
The number of positive coronavirus cases in India saw a jump of 2,270 to stand at 42,533. Of these, 29,543 are active, while 11,706 are discharged. The death toll stands at 1373.