Fresh hope for worried NHS staff as ‘home tests’ available in weeks
CORONAVIRUS: HEART OF THE CRISIS
HOME tests that can show whether someone has had coronavirus could be available within weeks, Public Health England said yesterday.
The announcement came as fears were raised that frontline NHS staff who are infected but have no symptoms could actually be spreading the virus among patients.
PHE’s medical director Professor Yvonne Doyle made the clarification after Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, poured cold water on earlier comments that millions of kits would be available within days.
However, it emerged that thousands of extra ventilators may not arrive until after the peak of the epidemic.
Prof Doyle said the antibody tests – which can show whether someone has previously had the virus, even if they had no symptoms – would allow people to test themselves.
Millions of DIY finger prick kits are also on order for the use of NHS staff and key workers. Prof Doyle explained to the Commons
Health and Social Care Committee: “Members of the public will be able to take a blood test and send it back in the post and get that analysed.
“That is an antibody test that tells if you have had the condition.
“That is absolutely critical to understand what it is going on and allow people to return to work.
“That is well advanced but not ready yet. We need to be absolutely sure it is a valid test.
“We expect that to come within a couple of weeks.
“But I wouldn’t want to over promise on that – and I do think the chief medical officer has been absolutely clear on it being right before it is put out.”
Prof Doyle said it took an average of three to five days after people become infected for symptoms to reveal themselves.
However, almost one in three are believed to be asymptomatic, meaning they fight off the virus without becoming sick. And when asked whether this means NHS staff could be spreading the virus between patients, she told MPs: “The answer in theory is yes.”
Concerns were again raised that NHS staff do not have adequate protective equipment.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, said doctors were not being given goggles and shortages of other kit means some have resorted to buying it online.
He said: “I know we have had assurances around deliveries being escalated.
“But we’re still finding far too many of our members telling us that that hasn’t translated on the ground.” The Royal College of GPs has also written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock demanding clarity on protection for family doctors.
Explosion
It said: “GPs across the country have never been more concerned, not just for the safety of themselves and their teams, but for patients too.”
Meanwhile, London hospitals are facing a “tsunami” of coronavirus cases and are beginning to run out of intensive care beds, a senior hospital figure has said.
Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers,
which represents hospitals, said while critical care capacity had been expanded hospitals in the capital had seen an “explosion” in demand.
A third of the UK cases have been diagnosed in the city.
Mr Hopson said high staff absence rates were creating a “wicked combination”. He said: “They are struggling with two things. The first is the explosion of demand they are seeing in seriously ill patients.
“They talk about wave after wave after wave – the word that’s often used to me is a continuous tsunami.
“We are now seeing 30 per cent, 40 per cent and indeed in some places 50 per cent sickness rates as staff catch the virus or are in vulnerable groups or have to self-isolate. That’s unprecedented.”