Public health officials have confirmed that the UK has authorised the use of a Coronavirus antibody test that they found to be 100% accurate.
The accuracy of the test is an exciting discovery.
The new blood test has gone through rigorous testing by scientists in this country; the antibody test was developed in Sweden.
They found the test was “highly specific” and had an accuracy of 100%.
Professor John Newton, a leader in the UK Coronavirus Testing Programme, said: “This is a very positive development because such a highly specific antibody test is a very reliable marker of past infection.
“This in turn may indicate some immunity to future infection although the extent to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains unclear.”
Junior health minister Edward Argar said: “This has the potential to be a game changer.
“We are now moving as fast as we can to discuss with Roche purchasing of those but I can’t give you an exact date when we’ll be able to start rolling them out.”
Now that we’ve got a test, we can further push to go back to work and lead a normal life, as Boris Johnson said in March: “The great thing about having a test to see whether you’ve had it enough, is suddenly a green light goes on above your head and you can go back to work safe and confident in the knowledge that you are most unlikely to get it again.
“So for an economic point of view, from a social point of view, it really could be a game-changer.”
Considering current testing abilities only get to show us who have it right now, this is a very exciting discovery, and the accuracy of the test is unmatched, so there are no confusing errors in the results.
