Fingerprick coronavirus antibody tests pass first major trials

The antibody test is set to tell if someone has had the virus from just a drop of blood taken in a fingerpick test

UK Government ministers are getting ready to release the fast working test for antibodies which can tell if a person has had the coronavirus after the tests have passed their first major trials reports are saying.

The tests which can tell in just 20 minutes if a person has had the coronavirus Covid-19, by taking a drop of blood from the top of a finger have so far been found to be 98.6% accurate in a set of tests which were carried out in secret recently.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the UK Government is now planning to buy millions of the test kits to be sent out to people all across the United Kingdom.

There are as yet no antibody tests which have been approved for home use as yet, so it is likely that the population will still have to go to their doctors surgery, or a testing station to receive the test for the moment.

At the moment the tests which are available require the samples to be sent to a laboratory for the results to be found, this is extremely time consuming, and of course the logistics are a nightmare, this new test can be set up and results are known on site in about 20 minutes.

Chris Hand, who leads the UK-RTC, (Oxford University and several UK diagnostics firms),  said: “It was found to be 98.6 per cent accurate, and that’s very good news.

“We’re now scaling up with our partners to produce hundreds of thousands of doses every month.” 

He added that the Department of Health is in talks with UK-RTC over buying millions of tests before the end of the year.