Clinical research centre Care Access Research reported on Tuesday the launch of a validation trial for a new at-home COVID-19 test developed by a private genomics lab that manufactures DNA screening kits.

In partnership with the US FDA, the validation study will evaluate the efficacy of its new at-home test for diagnosing COVID-19. The mailing of simple testing kits directly to patients could help reduce visits to overwhelmed clinics and hospitals as well as enhance social distancing.

In conjunction, the company will lead the validation study at several of its clinical research sites across the US. The clinical trial will need about 60 and 500 patient volunteers to determine the test's accuracy at diagnosing the COVID-19 disease.

Upon approval by the US FDA, the new COVID-19 test will very soon be available at-home. The patients may order kits, take a personal biomedical sample at home, ship their sample to the lab for analysis and get test results in a timely manner.