NIH Director: New COVID-19 tests 'key' in recovery

Dr Francis Collins spoke about the "Shark Tank" project which will be helpful in meeting the challenges arising from COVID-19. He believes if best of minds come together, this crisis can be handled.

The Director of the National Insitutes for Health says the "Shark Tank" project to develop new test for COVID-19 will be key in getting information to businesses about "what are the risks to bringing people back."

Dr. Francis Collins made his comments during the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing.

Committee chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander says one billion dollars was included in one of the relief packages for this initiative to create new technologies to produce the tens of millions of diagnostic tests we will need to contain this virus.

"I remain optimistic because of the track record of American ingenuity and the outpouring that has already happened of great ideas coming into this Shark tank," said Collins.

"So in an age we believe that putting the best minds in the world together is the only way to meet the challenge and to bring this virus under control."

Despite assurances by President Donald Trump that the U.S. had all the testing it needs, public health experts say the country is far short of the tests needed to detect and control fresh outbreaks.

The virus is continuing to spread across the country, with over 1.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, and more than 72,000 deaths.

While more and faster tests are becoming available, many doctors' offices and labs have been overwhelmed by demand and long backlogs have been common. A gradual reopening of businesses in some states is likely to increase infections and exacerbate the problem.

Estimates vary but doctors believe significant numbers of people with the disease show no symptoms but are capable of infecting others.

"Anything we can do that's going to increase the number of tests available by a factor of five or maybe even 10 is very worth what we would want to put into it," said Collins.

"But we also believe that it's not just a matter of taking what we have and making it a higher throughput. We need new technologies that have these more appropriate features."

(Inputs from APTN)