(July 25, 2021)

The CDC quietly announced last week that it was withdrawing its request to the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the 2019-Novel Coronavirus PCR Diagnostic Panel for detection of SARS-CoV-2 (the name for the COVID-19 virus). It now recommends laboratories adopt a method that can detect and differentiate SARS-CoV-2 from influenza viruses. The US has used the PCR test to report more than 34.4-million cases of the COVID-19 since the pandemic began and more than 610,000 deaths.