Antibody tests in UK fall from 40,000 to 5,000 a day

ANTIBODY tests have fallen from a high of 40,000 a day to just 5,000 in the UK in the past month.

The Government has insisted that despite the drop the tests, which shows if people have had coronavirus at any point, are still a “central part” of its testing strategy. However, ministers have come under fire for setting stringent accuracy targets that mean many UK suppliers of the tests are struggling to get regulatory approval.

The tests were lauded by Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this year as a “game changer” in the efforts to control the pandemic, as it was thought that people who have had the virus once are resistant to reinfection.

However, the case of a man in Hong Kong, who last month was found to have contracted coronavirus for a second time, has raised questions over the strength of immunity to reinfection.

Currently, antibody tests are available to any NHS worker, but have not yet been rolled out to care home residents and patients as previously envisioned.

A government-backed consortium, comprised of Oxford University and diagnostics companies, has yet to gain approval from the Medical Health Regulatory Authority for its test.

Meanwhile, other UK companies who have produced the antibody tests are struggling to meet the MHRA’S requirements for 98 per cent accuracy, meaning many are selling their kits abroad, where the regulatory bar is lower.

Birmingham University Professor Jon Deeks, who is leading a review on antibody testing for an independent health organisation called Cochrane, described the UK’S lack of antibody testing as a “failing”.

He told the Financial Times: “Why aren’t they available here? There’s no good reason why they aren’t.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are working with health experts and industry to develop reliable, accurate antibody tests which could potentially help us control the spread of this virus.”