First COVID-19 Test OK'd With 'At Home' Sampling

— Patients swab themselves and mail samples to LabCorp

The FDA authorized the first diagnostic test for COVID-19 coronavirus with an "at home" specimen collection component, the agency announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, the agency said it is amending an emergency use authorization granted last month to Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) for its COVID-19 RT-PCR Test. It will now allow patients to collect their samples at home using the company's Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 Test home collection kit.

According to the reissued EUA, testing a sample from the self-collection kit is permitted. The kit contains a specific Q-tip-style swab and saline that the patient must use to collect the sample, the agency said. Patients then mail the sample in an insulated package to a LabCorp lab for testing.

Read more here: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/86069