Approved game-changing coronavirus antibody test in advance that could help facilitate blockage

The first coronavirus antibody test kit that could help alleviate blockade in the United Kingdom was approved by Public Health England.

No10 is now eager to have “as many of these as possible” after Swiss healthcare company Roche developed the kit that could change the game.

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The test received the seal of approval from PHE’s Porton Down facility last week, with the government now in talks to buy millions of the kit, The Telegraph reports.

Roche is said to be on standby to provide hundreds of thousands of laboratory tests to the NHS each week.

Recent efforts to produce antibody tests have been riddled with inaccurate results, but PHE has backed Roche Diagnostics’ claims that its new test can detect 100 percent of those who have had the virus “without false negatives.”

The test supports the detection of antibodies in patients who have been exposed to the coronavirus and will therefore be immune to detection of the virus again.

They will be critical for the UK to lift the stringent closure measures and allow people to return to work, and the government has even suggested granting “immunity passports” to those who pass the test.

‘POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER’

Professor John Newton, national coordinator of the UK Coronavirus Testing Program, said: “We were confident that good quality antibody testing would be available when needed.

“Last week, PHE Porton Down scientific experts conducted an independent evaluation of the new Roche SARS-CoV-2 serological assay in record time, concluding that it is a highly specific assay with 100 percent specificity.

“This is a very positive development, because such a highly specific antibody test is a very reliable marker of past infections. This in turn may indicate some immunity to future infections, although the degree to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains be clear. “

Steve Brine, a former health minister, called the move a “potential game changer” and urged the government to act quickly if the science is correct.

He told the newspaper: “I would like to trust the science behind this, and what is safer than the epidemiology that tells us that once you have the antibody you cannot obtain it again.”

“There is still no consensus in the scientific community, but it is potentially a game changer, not only for front-line workers but also for the general population who could rely heavily on this to turn small steps into bigger steps.”

“The truth is that it is much more difficult to get out of the confinement than it is to get in because public opinion, in part because we saw that our prime minister almost lost his life for this, is quite circumspect. Something like this could give people confidence, providing science is published and agrees that it works [by indicating immunity]”

The current government swab test can only determine if a person has the virus, not if they have had it and have recovered.

When a person becomes infected with a virus, the body begins to make specially designed proteins called antibodies to fight the infection.

Once recovered, those antibodies float in the blood for months, perhaps even years.

Therefore, a test that specifically looks for antibodies will be able to determine if you have already been exposed to Covid-19.

ESCAPE TIME

It occurs when the chief scientist at the World Health Organization revealed that the coronavirus pandemic could take up to five years to come under control.

Soumya Swaminathan said that a vaccine “seems the best way out for now,” but warned that there are “many buts” to ensure its safety.

The WHO chief scientist said at the FT Global Board digital conference: “I would say that within four to five years, we could be looking to control this.”

But he cautioned that several factors would have to be considered, including whether the killer bug matures and what containment measures are in place.

The scientist gave the grim description, as other experts warned that no one can predict when the deadly disease will go away if it even goes away.

Dr. Mike Ryan, who heads the organization’s emergency health program, said: “We have a new virus that is entering the human population for the first time, and therefore it is very difficult to predict when we will prevail over it.”

THE VACCINE IS KEY

“What is clear, and I think perhaps what Soumya could have been referring to, is that the current number of people in our population who have been infected is actually relatively low.

“What if you are a scientist, and you project forward in the absence of a vaccine, and try to calculate ‘how long it will take for enough people to become infected for this disease to become an endemic trace’?

“And it’s important to put this on the table: This virus can become another endemic virus in our communities. And this virus may never go away.

“HIV has not disappeared, we have come to terms with the virus and we have found therapies and prevention methods, and people are not feeling as scared as before and we are offering a long and healthy life to people with HIV.”

The doctor also said that the confinement should not be alleviated with adequate surveillance measures, otherwise it will be a case of “counting the bodies in the morgue” to see if the relaxation measures have worked.

Dr. Ryan echoed his colleague and said that the best way to eradicate the virus globally would be to develop a vaccine available to everyone.

But he warned that the world “lacked the will and determination” in the past to invest in health systems and distribute vaccines already capable of fighting diseases like measles.

The doctor continued: “It is a great opportunity for the world.

“The idea that a new disease could emerge, cause a pandemic, and we could, with a massive shot to the moon, find a vaccine and give it to all who need it and stop this disease on its way, perhaps what has It has been a tragic pandemic, a beacon of hope for the future of our planet and the way we care for our citizens. “

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