Amazon.com Inc. wants to start testing employees for the coronavirus at an in-house lab it’s currently in the process of setting up.

The online retail giant detailed the project on Thursday, saying that it’s being led by a team of software engineers, program managers, procurement specialists and researchers who have been reassigned from their normal jobs. The group has already started sourcing equipment necessary to begin tests.

Amazon didn’t go into more detail, but an official photo (pictured) that was attached to the blog post in which the company announced the lab shows a QuantoStudio medical testing machine from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Reuters last week reported that Amazon had held talks with Thermo Fisher as well as another medical device maker, Abbott Laboratories Inc., about supporting its in-house coronavirus testing efforts. Abbott recently received U.S. government approval for a COVID-19 test that can return results in five minutes.

The same report that detailed Amazon’s talks with the hardware makers claimed the company was looking to partner with a medical organization to help perform testing. 

The company didn’t provide an update on its medical partnership efforts in the blog post. However, the company did divulge that the project’s initial goal is to “start testing small numbers of our front line employees soon” and indicated it’s hoping to perform screening more broadly in the future.

More than 50 Amazon warehouses in the U.S. have logged at least one confirmed coronavirus case, according to the New York Times. Having the capacity to perform COVID-19 tests in-house might help Amazon respond more quickly to suspected cases in warehouses near its new lab, though it would need to set up additional testing sites to cover its entire fulfillment network.

That’s where the talks the company reportedly held with medical device maker Abbott could come into play. Abbott’s five-minute COVID-19 test runs on a portable analysis device called the ID NOW that is small enough for use by doctor’s offices, which means it might be possible to install the machine in Amazon warehouses as well.

Other companies in the tech industry and beyond may also start taking steps to provide employees with access to testing. And many tech firms are already actively taking part in the global fight against COVID-19. Apple Inc. has donated masks to health workers, while Google LLC and Facebook Inc. are sharing local data with officials to help them track the spread of the pandemic.

Photo: Amazon