Simple test will be ‘game changing’
A ‘GAME-CHANGING’ new coronavirus test will be offered to hundreds of thousands of people as soon as possible, Boris Johnson said yesterday.
The Prime Minister said the UK was in negotiations to buy vast quantities of a simple ‘antibody test’ to show if someone has had the virus and recovered from it.
If they test positive, they will be deemed fit to return to work because they will not be able to contract the virus again and pass it on.
A simple and quick test on such a scale would allow the economy and daily life to return to normal much more quickly by identifying those who are not a risk to others
In the UK and around the world, hopes are also growing that a drug cure for Covid-19 can be found - with promising results from several existing experimental treatments.
British vaccine trials that could prevent people catching the disease will soon be under way.
Mr Johnson said yesterday: ‘UK experts and scientists expect to start trials for the first vaccine within a month. And above all we’re getting better at testing.
‘We’re in negotiations today to buy a so-called antibody test, as simple as a pregnancy test, which can tell whether you have had the disease. It’s early days, but if it works as its proponents claim, then we will buy literally hundreds of thousands of these kits as soon as practicable.
‘It has the potential to be a total game-changer.’
He added: ‘We’re massively increasing the testing to see whether you have it now and ramping up daily testing from 5,000 a day, to 10,000 to 25,000 and then up at 250,000. That knowledge of where the virus is will make a huge difference to our management of the disease and our ability to reduce disruption and economic difficulty.
‘It’s by this combination of ruthless, determined, collective action and scientific progress that we’re already seeing that we will succeed.
‘I know how difficult it may be or it may seem right now, but if we do this together, we will save many, many thousands of lives.’
In addition, trials of potential vaccines are also under way with results expected by April, yesterday’s press conference heard.