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Ministers are considering ordering millions of antibody tests developed by researchers in Britain despite admitting that there are still concerns about the reliability of the test kits at home.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed Sunday that the government was evaluating the new antibody kits in hopes of using them to reveal how many people recovered from the infection and presumably acquired some level of immunity.
If the tests are accurate enough, they could identify people who are at least partially protected against the virus and shed light on the amount of population that has been exposed.
But Raab told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that it was still unclear whether the tests were reliable enough to be implemented on a large scale. An ideal test would detect all those with antibodies against the virus and produce negative results for anyone who has not been infected.
A flawed test that mistakenly suggests that people are immune when they are not could be extremely dangerous if those people returned to work in homes or hospitals.
According to a report in Mail on Sunday, the government ordered up to 50 million new antibody test kits developed by the newly formed Oxford University Rapid Test Consortium. But Raab questioned that claim, telling Marr that he was unsure if they had been ordered, and that doubts remained about their quality.
Consortium leader Jonathan Allis told Mail on Sunday: “We are close to collecting 100% of all cases where people have antibodies.” Now it is just a matter of expanding the manufacturing process. ”
The Guardian understands that the test has not exceeded the official performance criteria established by the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Health Products (MHRA).
The report described that the test cost £ 10 and took 20 minutes to reveal whether or not people have antibodies in their blood that can fight the coronavirus. I would analyze a blood stick and show two lines to get a positive result.
Those using the test will be asked to submit a photo of the results to a central database. If the test is deemed effective, the consortium believes it could produce 1 million a week in the summer and up to 50 million next year, the report added.
But some high-level scientists caution that the focus on home antibody test kits is not helpful. Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), tweeted Sunday that while the investigation into rapid and reliable antibody tests should continue apace, they were “a distraction until we have one.” The focus now, he said, should be on a massive increase in virus testing, laboratory tests for antibodies, isolation of infected, location of contacts and clinical care.
Jeremy Farrar
(@JeremyFarrar)Thanks to all the responses. At COVID19, a reliable and robust rapid antibody test would be very helpful, and science, research and development must keep up. But they are a distraction until we have one. The focus now should be on the massive increase in virus testing, ELISA for Ab, isolation, follow-up contact, and clinical care
Earlier this month, Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, noted that antibody screening tests to detect antibodies were seldom reliable for infectious diseases, and urged ministers to Efforts are made in much more reliable laboratories for antibody tests called Elisas, which are already being used by Public Health England and others to detect blood for Covid-19 antibodies.
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