Trump: 1 Million Tests Already, Rapid Tester on Its Way

President Donald Trump has announced the U.S. has conducted a world-leading 1 million tests for the coronavirus and showed off the world class Abbott Laboratories' rapid testing device Monday in the White House Rose Garden.

"The numbers have been incredible in testing, but in the days ahead we're going to be going even faster," Trump said. "We have something from Abbott Labs, which is right here, and that's a 5-minute test, highly accurate."

The U.S. has not only tested more than 1 million samples – "a milestone in our war against the coronavirus," Trump said – but the U.S. is testing 100,000 per day, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

"Also a level that no other country has reached," Azar told reporters during the coronavirus task force daily briefing.

Abbott Laboratories has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a testing machine that confirm a case for COVID-19 in as little as five minutes and clear a patient in 13 minutes, according to the coronavirus task force. The testing device had already been used to test for strep and influenza and has since been retrofitted with cartridges to test for COVID-19 now.

The Abbott Labs device is now being sought worldwide as a world-class game-changer in the fight against the global coronavirus pandemic, Trump said.

As for social distancing guidelines, Trump said they are going to get stronger, not relaxed in the coming days and weeks as the U.S. seeks to curb the spread and further ramp up testing.

"The guidelines will be very much as they are, maybe even toughened up a little bit," Trump said.

"Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family, and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty. Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days and this is a very vital 30 days."

When pressed by reporters about his expressions of calm, optimism, and hope, Trump beat back attacking questions from reporters.

"It will go away, and I do want them to stay calm, and we are doing a great job," Trump responded to frequent CNN combatant.

"If you look at those individual statements, they're all true. Stay calm, it will go away – you know it is going away. It will go away and we're going to have a great victory. And it's people like you and CNN that say things like that, it's why people just don't want to listen to CNN anymore. You could ask a normal question.

"I want to keep the country calm. I don't want to cause panic. I could cause panic, much greater than even you. It would make you look like a minor-league player.

"But you know, I don't want to do that. I want our country be calm and strong and fight and win. It is incredible the job these people are doing.

"Instead of asking a nasty, snarky comment like that you could as a real question."

Also, another frequent combatant asked about South Korea's higher per capita testing rate, a country, Trump reminded that has one-sixth of the U.S. population.

"We have done more tests, by far, than any country in the world," Trump responded. "Our testing is also better than any country in the world."

Trump pointed to the Abbott Labs testing device that "every country" in the world wants.

"Rather than asking a question like that, you should congratulate the people that have done this testing, because we inherited, this administration inherited a broken system, a system that was obsolete.

"We have built an incredible system," he added.

"And you should be saying congratulations instead of asking a really snarky question, because I know exactly what you mean by that."

Trump also talked about supplying not just the U.S. hospitals with personal, protective equipment, including N95 masks and ventilators, but production is going to ramp up so quickly, the U.S. will be helping to supply the hardest-hit areas of Europe, too, he said.

Ford and GE Healthcare are among the U.S. companies assisting in the production of world-class ventilators for worldwide supply.

While the U.S. leads the world in tests conducted, it has confirmed a world-high 163,479 COVID-19 cases. With 3,148 deaths to date, the confirmed-case death rate is currently 1.9%. New York, New Jersey, and California are the most-infected states in America, and New York, Washington state, and N.J. are the deadliest, accounting for a combined 55% percent of all U.S. deaths to date.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.