The coronavirus tests offering hope – from home kits to ‘game-changing’ antibody checks
THE UK is set to ramp up testing for coronavirus infection to 25,000 tests a day, Boris Johnson has said.
The Prime Minister laid out the new measure in the House of Commons yesterday in a bid to combat the spread of the deadly bug.
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It comes as the number of positive tests for the virus reached 2,626 while the death toll jumped last night by 33 to 104.
Previously, only 5,000 were being swabbed for Covid-19 - a fraction of the number seen elsewhere.
The PM yesterday claimed a new 'game-changing' test which looks for antibodies in the blood, could help detect those struck by Covid-19 who show no symptoms - and those who've beaten the bug.
Mr Johnson said it would give people the "green light" to go back to work, and ease strain on the NHS.
Currently, Public Health England are only testing patients for Covid-19 in hospital using nasal swabs.
Mr Johnson conceded that the NHS will continue to use nasal swab tests that take up to 48 hours to be analysed in a lab.
Other countries around the world - including the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Italy - have been using testing kits that take minutes to produce results.
And in a further development Oxford University researchers claimed that they have created a new test which analyses viral RNA to detect Covid-19 in just 30 minutes.
Here, we take you through the different testing kits currently being rolled out in other counties and at private clinics in Britain - that offer new hope amid the pandemic...
1. Finger prick test
Time for diagnosis: Ten minutes
A private firm, based in Derby, called SureScreen Diagnostics say they have created a test called Covid-19 Rapid Test Cassette which can determine with 98 per cent certainty if a person has coronavirus.
It involves taking a blood sample via finger prick and then putting it into a screening device.
SureScreen the test could potentially save delays in diagnosis. as results are shown within minutes in the same way to those of an at-home pregnancy test.
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The company says its test has been validated and is already being used by private buyers in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Turkey, UAE, Kuwait and Oman.
It is believed around 175,000 tests have been conducted with the SureScreen kit so far and the company claims it has had over two million orders for next month.
2. Nasal swab
Time for diagnosis: Four hours
A company called ThermoFisher have created a DIY test called TaqPath Covid-19 Combo Kit which detects specific DNA given off by Covid-19 in the noses of infected patients.
Samples are then taken to labs where scientists analyse them and results are produced within four hours.
The test was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration this week and five million kits will be sent across America in the coming days.
It is hoped the UK will follow suit after representatives from ThermoFisher, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, were seen entering Downing Street this week carrying a box with the tests.
Reportedly, ministers were giving a demonstration of how the test works.
3. Finger print test
Time for diagnosis: 15 minutes
Manufacturers BioMedomics have created a finger print test called Covid-19 IgM IgG Rapid Test.
While health bodies in China, Italy and Japan are diagnosing patients with it, it is not currently being used in the UK.
On March 5, BioMedomics claimed its "quick and easy" test was ready and being used in South Korea, Japan, Italy, China and some countries in the Middle East.
After the sample of blood is collected, a technician injects it into the analysis device - which is about the size of an Apple TV or Roku remote - along with some buffer, and waits 15 minutes.
One line means negative, two lines in a spread-out configuration means the sample contains antibodies that the body starts making shortly after infection.
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Two lines closer together mean the person is positive for the later-stage antibodies, and three lines mean the patient is positive for both types of antibodies.
A small study showed the test produced a correct response 80 per cent of the time.
PHE confirmed it was not using the advanced blood test because it was not accurate enough, and are hoping to develop their own. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also yet to approve it.
4. Face mask test
Time for diagnosis: 12 hours
Scientists from the University of Leicester have started a trial of a pioneering £2 gadget, which is a breath test inserted in a mask.
Tests from the product have already proven they can detect another deadly condition that affects the lungs - tuberculosis.
The masks, which could cost next to nothing if produced on a wider scale, are fitted with strips that soak up droplets from the patient's breath, which may be carrying traces of bacterial or viral infection.
The strips can be tested in labs with results coming back within hours.
Despite this, the researchers believe it will be at least two months before they can test the masks on actual Covid-19 patients.
However, they are hopeful it will work because it is a respiratory disease, meaning it infects the lungs and can is present in the air people breathe out.
5. Breath test
Time for diagnosis: Minutes
British scientists at Northumbria University in Newcastle have developed a breath sampling device that helps rapidly identify patients with coronavirus.
People simply breathe into the device, which collects a sample of the breath.
The breath samples are then tested separately for biological information - known as biomarkers.
These biomarkers, which include DNA, RNA, proteins and fat molecules, can signal diseases of the lung and other parts of the body.
The scientists believe this test could change the way the virus is spotted around the world.
Dr Sterghios Moschos, associate professor at Northumbria University, said: "Our ambition is to reduce the need for bloodletting for diagnosis in its broadest sense.'"
Despite this, the technology is still in development and needs further testing.
6. CT scans
Time for diagnosis: 1 hour 30 minutes
Doctors from The Mount Sinai Health System in New York say CT scans may be faster than nasal and throat swabs at diagnosing coronavirus patients.
The team were the first in the US to analyse lung scans of patients in China with the highly contagious disease.
They said they were able to identify specific patterns in the lungs as markers of Covid-19, as it developed over the course of about two weeks.
The researchers say these quicker diagnoses could help keep patients isolated in early stages of the disease, perhaps even before symptoms appear and when it may not show up on other scans such as chest X-rays.
Dr Adam Bernheim, an assistant professor of diagnostic, molecular and interventional radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told the : "CT scans are an extremely powerful diagnostic tool, because you can seen the inner organs in a three-dimensional way.
"And you can see the manifestation of many diseases."
7. Private Harley Street Clinic
Time for diagnosis: Three days
More than 2,000 people have paid £375 each for a home kit produced by a Harley Street clinic after being refused testing by the NHS, according to .
Around 60 large firms, including an oil company and a major telecoms business, have ordered the tests for their entire workforce, it is understood.
The test is posted to the client’s home or preferred address, where the client takes swabs from both the nostrils and throat.
The sample is then placed in the box provided and posted back as per the instructions.
On its website, the item can be easily 'added to cart,' much in the same way as conventional online products.
Dr Mark Ali, director of the Private Harley Street Clinic in London, said: "People are worried sick. They want to get some clarity back in their lives."
Despite this, the tests came under fire on Good Morning Britain yesterday by the show's resident medical expert Dr Hilary Jones.
Speaking to hosts Piers Morgan and Ranvir Singh, who was covering for self-isolating Susanna Reid, he said: "It disgusts me, actually.
"The fact that you've got private testing - first of all, we don't know if it's accurate. If it is accurate, why should some people be able to buy when we've got frontline staff not being able to be able to get it.
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"The government should requisition this laboratory today and use those tests more appropriately."
Piers also laid into the private labs, adding: "We're hearing about wealthy people buying their own ventilators! This should not be happening!"
"No, it should not be happening," Dr Hilary agreed.