COVID-19: States to get 150 million tests to re-open economies, schools, says Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) said that 150 million Abbott rapid point-of-care tests will be distributed to states across the country in the coming weeks.

Speaking at a press briefing, Trump said, "In the old days when we just started this you remember we'd go out and we'd have to find these massive laboratories with tremendously expensive equipment. Now we're down to something, that you'll see, is really from a different planet."

"We're announcing our plan to distribute 150 million Abbott rapid point-of-care tests in the coming weeks," he said.

He also said that 100 million will support efforts to "reopen economies as quickly as possible, including testing for high-risk communities and educators".

Further, 50 million test kits will be given to the vulnerable communities, such as the elderly in nursing homes and hospice care agencies, and one million test kits will go to historically black colleges and tribal nation colleges, Trump added.

According to a report by The Hill, the Abbott tests, which are cheaper and faster than lab tests, return results in about 15 minutes and are already widely used in nursing homes under a program set up by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence said during the press conference that more cases of coronavirus will be registered due to the "historic advance in testing".

"With cases in positivity rising in ten states in the Midwest and the near west and with this historic advance in testing that's being distributed 150 [million] strong around the country, President, the American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead," he said.

According to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University, as many as 7,139,734 people in the US have tested positive of COVID-19 and 204,967 deaths have been reported so far.

( With inputs from ANI )