Washington DC – The US government is funding the manufacturing of the country's first Covid-19 test that can be purchased over-the-counter and self-administered, the White House said on Monday.

The tests were created by the company Ellume and can detect Covid-19 with around 95% accuracy in around 15 minutes.

"They can be used if you feel symptoms of Covid-19 and also for screening for people without symptoms so they can safely go to work, to school and to events," Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser for Covid-19 response, told reporters.

Ellume will ship 100,000 test kits per month to the US from February through July.

The US Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services has also awarded Ellume $230 million to ramp up manufacturing.

According to the terms of the contract, Ellume will manufacture more than 19 million test kits per month by the end of this year, 8.5 million of which are guaranteed to the United States government.