Sarah Silbiger/Getty ImagesThe US Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday that it has granted emergency use authorization to a Covid-19 diagnostic test that uses a new, inexpensive method of processing saliva samples. The test, called SalivaDirect, has been found to be highly sensitive, yielding similar outcomes to nasopharyngeal swabbing. The molecular diagnostic test can yield results in under three hours, researchers said, and up to 92 samples can be tested at once. Looking to the future: The FDA has authorized four other coronavirus tests which use saliva samples. Emergency use authorization allows the FDA to greenlight a product to test for coronavirus on an expedited basis.

Source: CNN August 15, 2020 18:11 UTC