New indications that Covid-19 immunity exists are encouraging, says UK chief of evidence

The UK testing guru has said it is “encouraging” that new evidence emerging from South Korea suggests that those who have battled the coronavirus may develop immunity later.

Fears had been raised that hopes of creating a natural “collective immunity” against the deadly virus might be lost after nearly 300 cases emerged in South Korea of ​​people who had apparently contracted Covid-19 for the second time.

But the country’s Central Clinical Committee for the Control of Emerging Diseases announced that the cases of people allegedly reinfected were due to a test failure and not a short-lived immunity.

Professor John Newton, coordinator of the UK testing effort, said the announcement was “promising” when asked about the findings.

The Academy of Medical Sciences said that it is believed that around 80% of the population would need to be immune to so-called herd immunity, where enough people have developed immunity to prevent it from spreading through the population.

Figures reporting to the British Government, including chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, previously explained that the reason a UK closure was delayed until March 23 was because there were plans to create conditions by which it could develop. the collective immunity.

Speaking at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing on Friday, Professor Newton said immunity science “was still emerging,” but called South Korea’s new findings “promising.”

“A general rule of thumb would be that you would never make a decision based on a single study, so we would like to see that result replicated in other studies before deciding that that was really the case,” he said.

“Obviously it is promising. I think people have said before in these briefings that it would be very surprising if there were no immunity after infection, but right now the science is still not precise on how much immunity you get and how long it lasts.

“But nonetheless, results like the one you mention are encouraging.”

It occurs when scientists and academics pledged to make immunity research a priority, setting the goal of discovering answers in the next 12 to 18 months.

The Academy of Medical Sciences and the British Society for Immunology, in an article published Friday, said key areas for the study considered establishing what protection, if any, is provided by antibodies developed by recovered patients, whether T cells they are involved in the generation of immunity. and how antibody tests could be used safely and reliably.

The document concluded that the answers to these questions “may help us understand what herd immunity to this virus may currently exist or develop within the population.”

Professor Danny Altman, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, who was on the advisory group for the research paper, said he was “hopeful” that scientists could find the answers.

The World Health Organization warned that there is currently no evidence that people who recovered from Covid-19 and developed antibodies are protected against reinfection.