FDA gives emergency approval for at-home nasal swab coronavirus test

The FDA has granted emergency approval use for a coronavirus test that can be conducted by patients at their homes.

The FDA re-issued emergency use approval for the Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 home collection test. The test, which can only be done with a doctor's orders, is conducted through a nasal swab.

Patients will now be able to collect nasal swab samples themselves and mail the samples to a LabCorp laboratory, where the company will test for COVID-19.

The FDA clarified in its release that it had not issued a widespread approval for COVID-19 home tests, and only LabCorp had been approved for home collection. The agency says that only Q-tip-style cotton swabs included in the LabCorp test kits had been cleared for use for the home test, and added that other cotton swabs should not be used in the tests due to "cross-reactivity due to inherent genetic material in cotton swabs."

The FDA says that the home tests will be available in "most states" "in the coming weeks."