The United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the country’s first at-home sample collection for coronavirus testing.
FDA’s commissioner, Mr Stephen Hahn, said this during Friday’s news briefing by the White House coronavirus taskforce in Washington.
Hahn said people could now collect their own samples at home using a designated nasal swab kit called Pixel, then submit to the Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) for testing.
But the kit would be made available first to health care workers and first responders in the frontline of the war against the virus.
It is then expected to go on sale to consumers in most states, “with a doctor’s order, in the coming weeks”, according to him.
Media reports say the kit costs 119 dollars (N44,744) and buyers will have to complete a survey about their eligibility for it.
The survey would include questions on whether intending buyers are healthcare workers, where they live, and if they have any virus symptoms.
An earlier FDA statement quoted the commissioner as saying that the approval had provided a convenient and reliable option for patient sample collection from the comfort and safety of their home.
“This authorisation only applies to the LabCorp COVID-19 RT-PCR Test for at-home collection of nasal swab specimens using the Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 home collection kit.
“It is important to note that this is not a general authorisation for at-home collection of patient samples using other collection swabs, media, or tests, or for tests fully conducted at home,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota are going to cut their oil production, without giving specifics on numbers, amid a glut in energy supplies and shortages of storage that led to massive drops in prices on the market.
“They gotta cut,” Trump said, speaking to reporters at the White House.
He also said Canada would make cuts.
“I want to help that industry,” Trump said, calling himself an “energy person.”
He described the cuts as a “natural” evolution, responding to the market.
The benchmark U.S. oil price, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), plummeted to an unprecedented minus 37 dollars at the end of Monday’s session.
Oil regained some of its losses, but prices remain suppressed, raising concerns for the U.S. industry, which may not be able to survive if the value of their products remains low for a sustained period of time.
The combination of a Saudi-Russian price war and the coronavirus pandemic-induced economic slowdown in the past two months led to a sharp decline in the cost of a barrel.
The storage issue is important for U.S. crude, as those contracts entail physical delivery.
Earlier this month, OPEC+ countries agreed to cut production by 9.7 million barrels per day for May and June.
The Texas Railroad Commission met this week but did not make any decision on production cuts, setting the next meeting of the regulator for May 5.
