On Jun. 10, 2020, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Illumina for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test utilizing next generation sequence technology. The FDA authorized the Illumina COVIDSeq Test for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from respiratory specimens collected from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider.

Using next generation sequencing means that the test can generate information about the genomic sequence of the virus present in a sample, which can be also used for research purposes.