Here are three things to share with you about the coronavirus:
- COVID-19 WAS NOT PRODUCED IN A LAB_ Over the course of the COVID-19 ordeal, a number of outlandish conspiracy theories have emerged that the virus was produced in a Chinese, Canadian, or American lab. Now a team of international researchers have concluded that the coronavirus has entirely natural origins through evolution. Public genome sequence data on COVID-19, as well as similar viruses, was extensively analyzed for this study. The results show absolutely no indication that the virus was produced artificially or in a lab setting. … Researchers from Columbia University, Scripps Research, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Sydney worked on this project.
- U.S. APPROVES ABBOTT CORONAVIRUS TEST; COMPANY SET TO SHIP 150,000_ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday granted Abbott Laboratories approval to sell a test for the new coronavirus. Abbott said it plans to immediately distribute around 150,000 tests to customers in the United States and will continue to ramp up production to hit a goal of providing up to 1 million tests per week.
- OXFORD U SCIENTISTS DEVELOP 30 MIN. CORONAVIRUS TEST_ A rapid test for coronavirus which could give a result in just 30 minutes for people at home has been developed by Oxford University. The super sensitive test, which can picks up the virus in its very early stages when it might otherwise have been missed, could be rolled out to testing centers within two weeks and could soon be available for home use. … Previous viral tests took 1½ to 2 hours to give a result slowing down the ability to respond quickly to the crisis.