New York City Announces New Testing Tools Against Novel Coronavirus

People wear surgical masks in fear of the coronavirus in Flushing, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens on Feb. 3, 2020. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s health commissioner Oxiris Barbot issued a joint statement on Feb. 29 saying that the city will be able to test samples of the novel coronavirus virus going forward.

“Today, the FDA [Food and Drug Adminstration] approved our application to develop our own test for the coronavirus,” de Blasio said.