U.S. tests more than a million people

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Monday said healthcare workers are now testing more than 100,000 samples from potential COVID-19 patients per day. President Donald Trump added in Monday’s briefing that “over 1 million Americans have now been tested, more than any country by far.”

How quickly are results known? Food and Drug Administration Administrator Stephen Hahn said newly approved COVID-19 point-of-care tests allow patients to get results in just minutes.

The FDA also approved N95 mask sterilization kits that allow medical workers to reuse masks up to 20 times. And on Sunday, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the medications chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. But the agency has not confirmed the drugs are an effective treatment for the new coronavirus as it continues conducting clinical trials.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s report in Beginnings on the ethical questions COVID-19 research has raised.