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At the No 10 press conference on Friday March 27th, Michael Gove, Jenny Harried (Deputy CMO) and Simon Stevens (CEO of NHS England) discussed increased COVID-19 testing of healthcare workers.
Dr James Gill, Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Warwick Medical School, said:
“Currently PCR testing requires swabs to be taken from a possibly infected patient’s airway, with the additional potential hazard for health care providers administering the test.
“The PCR test then requires transport of the swab to an appropriate lab for processing, with the inherent issues of potential false positive/negative results, a major factor in which may be how the sample is taken.
“The development of an antibody or serological test may revolutionise diagnosis and also screening for COVID-19, as it provides a rapid bedside test not that dissimilar to a pregnancy test, or a diabetic’s blood sugar test. The patient provides a drop of blood, which fifteen minutes later would provide a clear – antibody present or not – result. The antibody status of a patient will also allow the identification of people who have had the infection and subsequently recovered, not something possible with PCR testing.
“Again there is the potential for false positives/ negatives with antibody tests, particularly influenced by when a person is tested in the course of their infection. Nevertheless, the release of an antibody test may have profoundly positive effects in our ability to fight coronavirus, and is an example of good news which recently we have been sorely lacking.”
Declared interests
None received.