President Donald Trump was tested for a second time to determine whether he contracted COVID-19, and the result came back negative, according to the White House on Thursday.
Trump was given a new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus test that provides results in 15 minutes, according to a memo provided by the White House. The test was carried out on Thursday morning.
“This morning, the President was tested again for COVID-19, utilizing a new rapid point-of-care test capability. He is healthy and without symptoms,” wrote White House physician Dr. Sean Conley in the memo. The results came “back in 15 minutes.”
Trump said, during a Thursday evening briefing at the White House, that he took the new CCP virus test out of curiosity to see how it worked.
“It took me literally a minute to take it,” he said. “I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how fast it worked,” Trump added. “The second one is much more pleasant.”
Previously, Trump tested negative for COVID-19 in mid-March, coming just days after he met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a Brazilian government official who later tested positive for the virus. Bolsonaro was also tested, with the results coming back as negative.
The White House physician said at the time that the president didn’t need to get the CCP virus test because he only had limited contact with the Brazilian delegation.
Vice President Mike Pence, first lady Melania Trump, and Trump’s daughter Ivanka have been tested for the virus. All of the tests came back negative.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new CCP virus test, which provides a result in 15 minutes.
Abbott Laboratories, a health care company based in Illinois, said its new test can deliver positive results in as little as 5 minutes and negative results in 13 minutes.
Apart from the rapid results, the test is important because it can be used outside hospitals in places such as doctors’ offices and urgent care clinics. The test runs on the company’s ID NOW platform, a 6.6-pound box the size of a small toaster.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former FDA commissioner, said the new test is a “game changer.”
“This is GAME CHANGER. Abbott to market, starting next week, a fast point-of-care #coronavirus test, delivering positive results in 5min and negative results in 13min. Will deliver 50K tests/day to start. Kudos to Abbott and FDA’s Jeff Shuren and team at CDRH who are in the fight,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
