Some parts of Europe turned to serology testing early to try to get a handle on the pandemic but had to quickly pull back after those tests performed abysmally.
The Dutch firm announced a deal earlier in the month to develop the test with Duke-NUS Medical School and the Diagnostics Development Hub in Singapore.
High-profile groups have proposed population-scale testing as key to a safe reopening, but the test numbers they propose dwarf current and projected lab capacity.
A UK official said that the government is working with other companies on developing tests with rapid turnaround times and noted a test from UK firm OptiGene.