Cheap, rapid tests expand US toolbox, Germany on watch

The Food and Drug Administration over the weekend issued emergency use authorization for a rapid and cheap coronavirus test. The test may only be about 85{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} accurate, but it’s nonetheless a crucial step toward increasing the country’s ability to monitor for new coronavirus outbreaks, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC. 

Public health specialists have repeatedly said the ability to test broadly for the coronavirus will be key to boosting surveillance as dozens of states ease restrictions and reopen nonessential businesses. Epidemiologists say this week is when potential new infections would arise in states where governors reopened most aggressively.

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

• Global cases: More than 4.1 million
• Global deaths: At least 283,001
• US cases: More than 1.3 million
• US deaths: At least 79,528

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Under Armour reported an adjusted loss of 34 cents per share on revenue of $930.2 million during its fiscal first quarter ended March 31. Sales were down 23{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} overall from a year ago, as fewer people stocked up on its sneakers and workout garb. And Under Armour said roughly 15 percentage points of that decline stemmed from the Covid-19 crisis. The athletic apparel and sneaker maker ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $959 million.

As some retailers such as Macy’s are already reopening stores, hoping to bounce back from the crisis sooner rather than later, Under Armour also said, “the pace and timing of store openings, and traffic patterns when the stores re-open, remain highly uncertain.” —Lauren Thomas

A new coronavirus test is rolling out that could cost just $5 and offer results in minutes, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said.

The FDA on Saturday issued emergency use authorization for Quidel’s new antigen test. The diagnostic tests quickly detect fragments of proteins known as antigens found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs.

Gottlieb, a CNBC contributor who sits on the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina, said some 40,000 doctors already have the equipment needed to process the tests because it’s the same machine that would be used for flu and strep throat. 

However, the new test is only about 85{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} sensitive, Gottlieb said, so test results will still need to be confirmed with another kind of test like the more standard diagnostic PCR test. He added that the test is best used to confirm that symptomatic individuals are in fact infected with the coronavirus and not for screening potentially healthy people.

“But the virtue is, for the first 85 patients, you’ve now effectively diagnosed them right away in the doctor’s office in about five minutes, very inexpensively without having to reflex, without having to send off a PCR-based test,” he said. “So this really does expand the ability to test within the doctor’s office. And it’s another tool, another layer of testing.” —Will Feuer

Germany’s health ministry has said it takes a rise in the country’s virus reproduction rate seriously, but a higher number does not mean there is an uncontrolled outbreak, a ministry spokesman said Monday, according to a Reuters report.

The reproduction number is a measure of how many people an infected individual will go on to infect, on average. Health authorities have aimed to keep the number below 1 in order to gradually reduce the number of infections, but in Germany, the number has risen to 1.1, according to the Robert Koch Institute for disease control.

A number above 1 means the number of infections is increasing. Germany started to lift lockdown restrictions around three weeks ago. —Holly Ellyatt

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Russia sees record daily rise in new cases; Spain death toll at 7-week low