A test for coronavirus that can detect it within 45 minutes has been approved for use.
The tool is the first rapid coronavirus diagnostic test and can now be used in American hospitals and emergency rooms.
It has been developed by California-based molecular diagnostics company Cepheid.
The company plans to begin shipping it to hospitals next week, it said.
It was given the green light by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Under the current testing regime, samples must be sent to a centralized lab, where results can take days.
The diagnostic test for the virus that causes Covid-19 has been designed to operate on any of Cepheid's more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems.
Around 5,000 of these are in the US.
The systems do not require users to have specialty training to perform testing, and are capable of running around the clock, Cepheid President Warren Kocmond said in the statement.
The company did not say how much the test will cost.
The diagnostic tools will have to be approved by UK authorities if they are to be used in Britain.
Earlier this week a coronavirus test that reveals who has had Covid-19 but has not shown symptoms was made public in No10's daily press conference.
The Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said Public Health England's (PHE) work on the antibody test is "progressing very fast", and will provide valuable insight into the pandemic.
Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said development of the test was not far away.
Mr Johnson said: "The great thing about having a test to see whether you've had it enough, is suddenly a green light goes on above your head and you can go back to work safe and confident in the knowledge that you are most unlikely to get it again.
"So for an economic point of view, from a social point of view, it really could be a game-changer.
"You can really see the potential of that advance, which, as I say, is coming down the track."
