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# Hahn says 1.1 Million Coronavirus Tests Shipped
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/hahn-says-1-1-million-coronavirus-tests-shipped/
- Published: 2020-03-09T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:06:20.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5146270

FDA commissioner **Stephen Hahn** said at a White House [briefing](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/speeches-fda-officials/coronavirus-covid-19-update-white-house-press-briefing-fda-commissioner-stephen-m-hahn-md-03072020?ref=fdaweb.com) Saturday (3/7) that 1.1 million more coronavirus tests have just been shipped by “nonpublic health labs.” The Trump administration has been struggling to get a handle on test distribution while the virus outbreak continues to grow and deaths mount ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/coronavirus-test-goal-wont-be-met-pence/)).   

Asked to clarify how many patients have been tested to date, Hahn said the government does not have a running tally. He said it is aware of 5,861 specimens being tested, but each patient being tested could require between two and 20 tests to confirm a diagnosis, and so the number of patients tested is much lower than the specimens.

Hahn also reiterated the reason for a delay in testing — manufacturing problems with the CDC test. “While those issues have been resolved, at the time, this created complications for expanding access for public health laboratories and other developers who might use the CDC test as the basis for development of their own test,” he said. "The FDA and CDC worked together to quickly resolve the manufacturing issues and utilize a third-party manufacturer to assist with manufacturing the tests for not only the state public health labs, but also for commercial distribution to nonpublic health labs, including academic medical centers, community hospitals, and more.”

Hahn said that CDC has also earlier shipped enough tests to all public health laboratories to test 75,000 individuals. In addition to the 1.1 million tests just shipped (manufactured by IDT), an additional 400,000 tests which have undergone and passed final quality control check will be shipped early this week. Another manufacturer's tests will be undergoing a quality control check, and another 640,000 tests could ship as early as today.