Hancock mentioned this on 19/3/20 #bbcqt. It will use blood (pinprick) and give a result almost immediately, "like a pregnancy test". It had "been approved" (he didn't say by whom) a couple of days previously.
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Given that he said it shows immunity it is presumably a form of antibody test. It's not clear if it will detect (or distinguish between) IgG and IgM.
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Given that it usually takes a few days for antibody levels to rise detectably, the test will presumably not be useful until a few days after the onset of symptoms or exposure.
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The fact that the test has "been approved" (?by NIBSC nibsc.org) presumably means it is highly specific, with little or no positivity to antibodies to other Coronaviruses.
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We will need to understand these issues in order to understand test result implications - especially the issue of when (how long after exposure and/or symptom onset) a negative result can be relied upon.
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It wasn't clear when these tests would be available for use. Days, weeks…
I expect the answers to the questions Ive raised are known, and hope we get told the answers very soon - indeed if we haven't already had them (I may have missed a recent announcement).
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I expect the answers to the questions Ive raised are known, and hope we get told the answers very soon - indeed if we haven't already had them (I may have missed a recent announcement).
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@threadreaderapp unroll
