Top NIH official Dr Anthony Fauci says he CANNOT promise to get at least one million test kits in next two weeks as CDC comes under fire for lack of testing and delays in approving kits
Dr Anthony Fauci, a top official at the National Institutes of Health, says he’s not happy about the shortage of coronavirus testing kits
Delays began after the CDC sent out a first batch of faulty kits and had narrow criteria regarding who can be tested
Fauci agreed with Vice President Mike Pence that there is a shortfall in test kits but said he can’t promise that have one million will be available soon
Meanwhile, several people say they’ve returned from coronavirus hotpots, such as Italy and China, without being screened
Fauci said this is unacceptable and everyone should go through temperature checks and questioning
In the US, there are approximately 240 cases and 14 deaths, all but one in Washington state
By MARY KEKATOS and EMILY GOODIN
DAILYMAIL.COM
6 March 2020
A top official at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said he can’t make any promises about when enough test kits will be made available.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the goal in the next few weeks to have more than a million tests ready.
It comes just a day after Vice President Mike Pence admitted that there is a shortage of test kits, which currently cannot meet demand.
‘I can’t guarantee that, that’s an issue that would have to go through the FDA and the companies to see if that’s available,’ Dr Fauci told TODAY.
‘So I cannot promise it but that’s what the goal is – within the next couple of weeks – to get the million plus [out].’
A North Carolina company claims it’s created a 15-minuted test for the virus, but the CDC and FDA have not approved it
A California nurse who tested positive for coronavirus after treating a patient claims the CDC refused to test her
Tests have been dropped off at the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California where multiple cases have been confirmed
It is believed one of the chemicals used in the test did not work properly, resulting in the test needing to be remanufactured.
Another issue was that the CDC initially set narrow criteria on who could be tested.
At first, only those with a travel history to China – where the outbreak emerged – or those who had been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus patient were tested.
That changed after the first patient of ‘unknown diagnosis’ was confirmed in California, believed to be of so-called community spread.
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