Medtech industry group AdvaMed has developed a registry to share data on how many COVID-19 diagnostic tests are available and where they are, with a goal of foreseeing and nipping in the bud potential test shortages. Thirteen diagnostic manufacturers – including Abbott, Roche, Siemens and Thermo Fisher Scientific – have partnered with AdvaMed on the initiative.

The US government is helping Sonica develop ADAM, a patch monitor that tracks the user's breathing patterns and other physiologic signals to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Test kit and lab firms spent tens of thousands of dollars in the first quarter of 2020 lobbying legislators to win provisions in coronavirus protection laws to ensure COVID-19 diagnostics would be a top US legislative priority.

The US FDA issued an alert cautioning the public that Abbott’s widely used rapid test for detecting coronavirus has been linked to false-negative results.