Antibody tests that tell if you’re immune rolled out in 2 weeks

ACCURATE antibody tests are set to be rolled out across the UK within a fortnight to tell millions of Britons if they have had coronavirus.

Testing giant Roche Diagnostics has created a kit that is accurate enough to be used on a large scale – and the firm says it has enough stock to provide hundreds of thousands to the NHS every week.

It comes after weeks of disappointment over antibody tests, which are designed to tell someone if they have had the virus and indicate if they may be immune.

Roche claims its lab-based ‘Elecsys’ test can spot 100 per cent of those who have had the virus – with no ‘false negatives’ at all. It also said results are given in 18 minutes. The test is important as it gives the clearest picture of how endemic coronavirus has become. If more people have had it than currently believed, fears of a second peak will diminish.

Hopes ran high in March that antibody tests could allow Britons to return to work, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordering 3.5million tests from nine different companies. But even the best tests could only spot 70 per cent of those who had been infected.

The new test resolves the problem by using lab-based technology, rather than finger-prick ‘pregnancy-test’ style kits.

As long as the Roche test is used at least 14 days after someone has developed symptoms, it picks up 100 per cent of cases. It also has a ‘specificity’ of 99.8 per cent, meaning it generates very few ‘false positives’ – when it shows someone has been infected when they have not.

This is because Roche scientists have developed a test that only picks up the Covid-19 virus, whereas previous tests struggled to differentiate it from four other types of human coronaviruses. The blood sample kit – which can be processed by machines used in NHS labs across the country – has been granted the ‘CE’ safety mark’. It is undergoing final ratification at Public Health England’s Porton Down facility.

Roche Diagnostics said it is ‘in dialogue’ with the NHS and the UK Government about a ‘phased roll-out’ from mid-May.

And Edinburgh firm Quotient said it had also developed an accurate antibody test, with 1 screening machines available to process results.

Each machine has the capacity for up to 36,000 tests a day and produces results in 35 minutes. Like the Roche tests, its test boasts 100 per cent sensitivity and 99.8 per cent specificity.