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Public Health England gave the go-ahead for the first coronavirus antibody test that could help ease the blockade in the UK.
No10 is now interested in having “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 extent to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains unclear.”
Sir John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University, said it was “a great step forward” in the evolution of antibody testing.
However, he added that more work needs to be done to understand the meaning of a positive result.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today Program: “I think there will be more iterations of these tests because I think there are ways to improve them and we still have to understand what a positive result means.”
“We are not there yet, but this is a big step in the right direction.”
When asked why the UK was ten days behind the EU and the US. USA In approving the Roche test, Professor Bell said: “I think the approval mechanism takes longer than ideal.
“But remember when the test came out at home and people were quick to say that this was all great.
“We decided that we should stop and pause and just make sure they were what they were made to be.”
“And when we tried them, of course, they didn’t work, so I think we have to be a little cautious. It took a week or two more than it might have been.”
What is an antibody test?
The antibody test is different from the swab test that the Government is currently using.
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.
Anyone who has already had the disease is presumed to be immune to getting it again.
The control that has been developed for Covid-19 is a fingerstick blood test, with samples sent to laboratories and results available in a few days.
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.
What is not yet clear is whether or not these antibodies will protect a person from reinfection, and if so, for how long.
FIRST LINE WORKERS
Health Minister Edward Argar said the government wants to first implement a new antibody test “that changes the game” for front-line workers.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr. Argar said: “We are currently discussing this with Roche.
“He just went through Public Health England’s assessment as trustworthy, as doing the job, and therefore we are having those discussions.”
“But we are eager to get as much as possible as quickly as possible and get them out, primarily to the front line, the NHS, social care, and then more broadly.”
“Because this will really be, as the Prime Minister said, this has the potential to change the game.”
Mr. Argar added that the Government is not yet in a position to launch the new antibody tests to the public.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today program, he said: “He just got the green light.”
“Obviously we will have had kits to test, but at this time we are not in a position to give these tests.”
He added: “So we are not yet in a position to release it to the public and have those tests ready to start.”
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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.
THE VACCINE IS KEY
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.”
“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.
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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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