Abbott gets emergency OK to ship COVID-19 test kits, ramps up production

Abbott has received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to ship its COVID-19 test kits, the company announced Thursday.

The North Chicago-based medical equipment company has begun sending out about 150,000 tests kits, with plans to ramp up production to 1 million tests per week by the end of March. Tests already have been sent to hospital and academic medical center labs in 18 states, including Illinois, California, New York, Massachusetts and Washington.

Abbott's kit tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which the company says causes COVID-19. The test can be used on current Abbott equipment by authorized laboratories in the U.S. The tests are designed to identify the virus by targeting small amounts of it and amplifying that portion until there's enough for detection.

The company will also work with health systems and governments to provide additional test equipment where they are needed, officials said.

"Our scientists, many of whom worked on Abbott's first HIV test and the Zika tests, worked around the clock to develop these molecular tests," said Daman Kowalski, vice president and head of molecular diagnostics at Abbott.