Test and trace: are we nearly there yet?

For many, “normal life” feels such a distant memory that it is easy to forget that this crisis is still very new, said The Independent. Only weeks ago, little was understood about the novel coronavirus. Now, the first apparently reliable antibody test for it has been developed by the Swiss firm Roche, and deemed 100% accurate by Public Health England. It’s a “remarkable turnaround” – and marks “the first significant step forwards in the struggle to control Covid-19”. One of the reasons the virus spread so rapidly is that it takes days for symptoms to show, if they show at all. But if antibody testing becomes widespread, people will at least be able to find out if they’ve already had the infection; and while there is still no guarantee that this means they’re protected from reinfection, they would be able to make judgements “about their behaviour based on a better level of knowledge”.

Given the uncertainties, antibody tests are not that useful for individuals, said Ann Robinson in The Guardian. They might give people peace of mind; but they could also give them a false sense of security. Their real value is to policy-makers: widespread testing will give a clearer picture of the size of the outbreak, and its spread. The Government is in negotiations to buy millions of the testing kits, said The Guardian – but that’s just the start. Roche’s test is lab-based, and we know already that the UK’s capacity for processing tests is limited. The 100,000 a day target for antigen testing (to confirm if a person has the virus) is finally largely being met, and this week, the Government said anyone over the age of five with symptoms could apply for a test; but it’s still not clear when they’d actually be able to get one. And without rapid, widespread testing, the NHS contact tracing app, which is at the heart of the Government’s strategy for easing lockdown restrictions in England without triggering a second wave, won’t be effective.

Still, we are seeing some progress, said The Daily Telegraph. After teething problems, the trial of the NHS app, on the Isle of Wight, appears to be going well. Downing Street says there have been 60,000 downloads from a population of 140,000 – which is not bad, given the island is home to a lot of elderly people who may not have smartphones. And 21,000 human contact tracers have been recruited in England. But we still don’t know how well the app works in practice, said Rory Cellan-Jones on BBC News, because there’s very little chance of anyone on the Isle of Wight actually coming into contact with an infected person. Nor has the Government said when it expects to roll the app out nationally. First, it was mid-May; now it’s “weeks away” – after English schools resume.