(Reuters) – Quest Diagnostics Inc on Wednesday launched services to support large-scale testing for the new coronavirus as companies look to bring employees back to offices safely.
The company in April started testing blood samples to detect antibodies – proteins produced in response to infection – against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
The diagnostic company said the “return to work services” provide employers access to its COVID-19 antibody testing as well as molecular testing, which typically uses nasal swab samples to detect the virus.
The company said it was scaling up its COVID-19 lab operations to accommodate expected demand and expects to have capacity for about 150,000 molecular diagnostic tests a day by the end of June, nearly double its current testing rate.
The company also said it has the capacity to perform about 200,000 antibody tests a day.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
