Tests of 5,000 hospital staff reveal one in 10 have had virus
ANTIBODY tests on about 5,000 hospital staff suggest that ten per cent have had coronavirus.
Leicester’s hospitals have given all staff the option of a test to see if they have had Covid-19 as part of a major government project.
The NHS trust has offered the tests to staff at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Glenfield and General hospitals.
Health bosses said 5,000 frontline medics and others in the workforce had taken up the offer and had a blood test.
There is still no definite evidence that those who have had the virus have immunity. But the idea is that tests will help scientists understand how many people have had the virus and how it is spreading.
Acting chief executive Rebecca Brown, who has had a test, told trust board members yesterday: “We were asked could we do antibody testing and within 24 hours we were up and running.
“We’ve done over 5,000 tests so far. That shows how fleet of foot we can be and we need to say a great big thanks to our pathology teams, who worked overnight to get that set up for us.”
Asked about testing and results data, Ms Brown said: “We can’t share people’s personal testing data, antibody tests are a good example of this.
“But, we actually know that from those who have had antibody tests, about ten per cent have been positive.
“We don’t know the details and we can’t give the details out, but what we’re going to do is use that data to see what it can tell us and with our research teams, see how we can learn and build on it.” The tests are used to detect antibodies to the Covid-19 virus to see if someone has previously had the virus. The test works by taking a blood sample and testing for the presence of antibodies to see if someone has developed an immune response to the virus.
The tests do a different job to virus swab tests, which test to see if people currently have the virus.
Take-up for tests within the trust has reportedly been good and, after Ms Brown shared a photograph of herself having the test, other staff members responded saying they too had been tested.
One replied saying that the queue was too long and that she was told to return at another time.
We were asked could we do antibody testing and within 24 hours we were up and running