Coronavirus: CDC's faulty testing kits may have been produced in a contaminated lab, claims report
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab (CDC) may have produced some of its coronavirus testing kits in a lab that was already contaminated, a top federal scientist reportedly told Axios.
This could explain why some of these kits — shipped across the US and other countries — turned out to be defective.
This comes after the Trump administration ordered an independent investigation into the matter. But the FDA has not completely disclosed its findings.
The federal agency had carried out the inquiry at CDC's Atlanta lab, where scientists worked out the formula for their testing kits. The agency has since fixed the flaw, with help from the FDA. This has come as a relief as flawed and scarce test kits were delaying diagnosis.
“Upon learning about the test issue from CDC, FDA worked with CDC to determine that problems with certain test components were due to a manufacturing issue,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said, in a statement to Axios.
He added that they have resolved the issues, vouching for its quality. "FDA has confidence in the design and current manufacturing of the test that already has and is continuing to be distributed," he added.
The number of confirmed cases in the US has surged past 80 and two people have died so far. On Saturday, the number of infected cases was 62.
Currently, the US can test 75,000 people. The kits will expand radically over the next week, Alex M Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said.
Further, private labs will be allowed to pitch in, expanding the country's testing capacity. Earlier the CDC only had a monopoly over test kits.
As of now, more than 40 public health labs are equipped to test for the virus. By the next weekend, health officials are planning to arm more than 100 labs with these testing kits, say reports.
Vice President Mike Pence expressed confidence over the government's ability to fight the coronavirus outbreak. "This weekend, more than 15,000 testing kits have been released. Also, the FDA has approved a testing regiment that state and local officials can use. We are addressing it, we are leaning into it," he told CNN.
Now, health experts expect more coronavirus cases to surface in the coming days. "We'll have a much greater understanding of what's going on with the virus here in America," Scott Becker, the head of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told NPR.