THE FIRST coronavirus antibody test kit has been approved by Public Health England (PHE).
An antibody test can detect if a person has had coronavirus before and has since recovered, and has been regarded as essential for reopening the UK from the pandemic lockdown.
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Swiss healthcare company Roche developed antibody kits with 100 percent accuracy.
This accuracy has now been confirmed by experts from PHEs Porton Down facility last week.
And now the Department of Health is in negotiations with Roche to buy millions of the testing kit.
Roche said they stand ready to provide hundreds of thousands of laboratory-based tests to the NHS each week.
The news has been well received, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously described acquiring these tests as “game-changing”.
A Government source also said to the Telegraph: “We want to get our hands on as many of these as possible.”
Scientists believe people who produce antibodies after having coronavirus may develop immunity to catching the virus again, making them safe to return to work.
The Government has suggested the tests could be used to grant “immunity passports”, allowing them to resume normal life without restrictions, but only on an individual basis.
Professor John Newton, the national coordinator of the UK Coronavirus Testing Programme, said : “We were confident that good quality antibody tests would become available when they were needed.
“Last week, scientific experts at PHE Porton Down carried out an independent evaluation of the new Roche SARS-CoV-2 serology assay in record time, concluding that it is a highly specific assay with specificity of 100 per cent.
“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.”
Jeremy Hunt, the chairman of the health select committee and a former Health Secretary, also welcomed the development.
He said on Wednesday night: “This is potentially very exciting news for people who work in the NHS and care sector who have been most exposed to the virus.
“If we can establish that antibodies give you immunity, it would mean that you can go back to work safely.
“As soon as we can be certain that antibodies give you long-lasting immunity, I would expect significant orders to be placed.”
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, last week disclosed that officials were holding discussions with the company about a “very large-scale rollout” depending on whether the reported accuracy could be confirmed.
Mr Hancock had previously promised that widespread antibody testing would be available by the middle of May.
The capacity could transform scientists’ understanding of how much immunity to COVID-19 could exists in the country, helping them plan a route out of lockdown restrictions.
Ministers hope the antibody tests will be rolled out within weeks and enable the Government to reach Mr Johnson’s goal of testing 200,000 people per day.
The UK has the worst coronavirus death toll in Europe, with 33,186 sadly losing their lives to the virus.
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