COVID-19 Testing Decreased About 15% Last Week

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published an at-a-glance summary of SARS-CoV-2 virus testing news from around the agency on March 8, 2022.

The FDA confirmed 420 tests and sample collection devices are authorized by the FDA under emergency use authorizations (EUAs).

These authorizations include 290 molecular tests and sample collection devices, 85 antibody and other immune response tests, and 45 antigen tests.

Additionally, there are 70 molecular authorizations and one antibody authorization that can be used with home-collected samples.

Plus one EUA for a molecular prescription at-home test, 2 EUAs for antigen prescription at-home tests, 14 EUAs for antigen over-the-counter (OTC) at-home tests, and 3 for molecular OTC at-home tests.

The FDA has also authorized 25 antigen tests and nine molecular tests for serial screening programs.

Furthermore, the FDA has also authorized 868 revisions to EUA authorizations.

Previously, the U.S. CDC reported on March 4, 2022, the percentage of COVID-19 NAATs (nucleic acid amplification tests) that are positive is decreasing compared to the previous week.

The 7-day average of percent positivity from NAATs is now 3.8%.

And the 7-day average number of tests reported for February 18-24, 2022, was down 15.7% from the previous seven days.

Overall, since the COVID-19 pandemic began one early 2020, over 821 million tests have been reported to the CDC.

Additional lab test news is posted at CoronavirusToday.com/tests.

Note: This news article aggregated information published by the FDA and CDC.