U.S. health officials seek emergency approval to use diagnostic test for new coronavirus

(Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it is seeking special emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to allow U.S. states to use a CDC-developed diagnostic test to detect the new coronavirus from China.

Currently, states with suspected cases of the new virus must send samples to the CDC for confirmation, as was the case with the U.S. resident in Washington state who was infected while visiting Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the outbreak.