UK has millions of coronavirus antibody tests – but NONE work
THE UK has millions of coronavirus antibody tests - but NONE of them are good enough to use, the new testing chief has admitted.
The Government has ordered 17.5 million antibody kits - which would tell patients through a finger-prick blood test if they have already had the virus and recovered.
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Officials had suggested the checks would be rolled out this month.
Brits testing positive could then “confidently go back to work”, helping bring an end to strict restrictions.
However, Professor John Newton said that all of the coronavirus tests had failed evaluations and “are not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale”.
He said the antibody tests bought from China were only able to identify immunity accurately in people who had been severely ill.
Speaking at a Downing Street briefing yesterday, England’s top doctor Prof Chris Whitty said effective antibody testing could now be months away.
Professor Sir John Bell, leading the Oxford team evaluating the tests, has warned a working test will not be available until May at the earliest.
PM Boris Johnson hailed the checks as a potential “game-changer” in mid-March.
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Despite this, government scientists are hoping to work with companies to improve the performance of the antibody tests they currently have - and Prof Newton said he was "optimistic" one of the antibody tests would come good in the coming months.
On Friday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted himself the Government still doesn't have a reliable antibody kit it can use - despite promising to ramp up testing by the end of the month.
He said that several of the antibody kits had failed accuracy tests - with three in four positive results being missed.
Mr Hancock told BBC Radio 4: "I think that the antibody test, the blood test, at the moment we haven't got a reliable home test.
"If we manage to get one then that can be easily replicated and we can get into even higher figures, much higher figures."
The NHS is currently using separate antigen or swab tests in hospitals to determine if someone is currently infected with Covid-19.
Antigens are found on the surface of invading pathogens, including coronavirus. Testing for antigens can determine whether someone is currently carrying the virus and are actively infectious.
"So it is a little bit uncertain but there are commercial partners able to work with us. I’m optimistic.”
Despite this, Dame Deirdre Hine, the public health expert who chaired an official review that criticised failures of modelling in the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said that it was “difficult to understand” why the government had not planned for more testing.
Less than a third of doctors with symptoms of Covid-19 are able to get tested for the disease, according to a survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).
It also found that one in five did not have access to the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to safely treat Covid-19 patients.
Andrew Goddard, the RCP president, said the findings of the survey of 2,513 participants, were “a stark indication of the incredibly difficult situation facing our members working in the NHS”.
Matt Hancock told Sky News yesterday that eight per cent of NHS frontline staff were self-isolating and off work.
However, the RCP’s survey suggested the figure could be as high as 14 per cent.
Many of those off work are thought to be in isolation because of a member of their household with symptoms.
The poll found almost nine out of ten doctors could not access Covid-19 testing for someone in those circumstances.
Professor Goddard added: “The government’s current strategy to deliver testing that would support NHS staff to return to the workforce as quickly as possible clearly isn’t working.”
He urged the government to publish its plan, timeline, and the challenges that it expected.