The UK has ordered millions of Coronavirus antibody tests which don't work and functional ones could be months away

Business Insider Australia ^ | 04/06/2020 | Thomas Colson

[SeekAndFind]

* Government’s around the world are examining plans for so-called “immunity passports” that could allow people who have immunity to the coronavirus to return to normal life.

* However, the UK is months away from identifying a test which works, a scientific advisor to Boris Johnson’s government has warned.

* The tests the government have looked at so far do not work and that a large-scale solution would take ‘at least a month’ to develop, Professor John Bell warned.

* The UK government ordered 3.5 million of them last week, but Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday: “We still don’t have any that are good enough.”

The world could be months away from identifying a functional coronavirus antibody test which would allow millions of people to return to work, a scientific advisor to Boris Johnson’s government has warned, dashing hopes that one could be rolled out within weeks.

The UK government plans to roll out antibody testing in order to give people the opportunity to be granted “immunity passports” and leave the coronavirus lockdown early.

However, none of the world’s leading industrial nations have yet identified a working test.

Professor John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University tasked with assessing the effectiveness of various antibody tests, said on Sunday that the tests the government have looked at so far do not work and that a large-scale solution would take “at least a month” to develop.

“Sadly, the tests we have looked at to date have not performed well,” he wrote in a blog published on the Oxford University website.

[House Atreides]

“...However, none of the world’s leading industrial nations have yet identified a working test....”
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Hell, America has just approved a working antibody test. Maybe, due to globalization, we’re no longer considered a “leading industrial nation”. Trump and Navarro will change that.

[GSWarrior]

I don’t trust reposts like these.....

[GSWarrior]

.....reports, I mean.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Hell, America has just approved a working antibody test.

How accurate is this test?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I don’t trust reposts like these.....

I put the entire title of the article in the FR search and found nothing. How is this a re-post?

[GSWarrior]

Read a little further down.

[lepton]

The tests the government have looked at so far do not work

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Part of the issue here is undoubtedly a definition of “works”.

“works” at 80%, 95%, 99%, and works well enough to absolutely assume they are uninfected, are all vastly different things.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Read a little further down.

Well, if you’ve read this before, please ignore this thread.

It’s for those who haven’t read a previous post yet.

[GSWarrior]

I typed “repost” instead of “report.” If you look at post #4 you’ll see I attempted to set the record straight.

I am sorry for the error of my ways.

[dadfly]

i’ve learned that the most experienced virology labs (i.e., reference labs) wouldn’t be satisfied with producing a test (home brew) with anything less than 95% specificity on the false positive side and 99% accurate sensitivity side (false negative). anything less is basically useless. and they also usually do a complementary confirmatory test to be sure. (again why this presumed positive quarantine assumption is nonsense).

that is why most of the testing numbers you see are suspect. especially foreign numbers, and numbers in states where everything is send out to where ever.

i tend to trust test numbers in areas/states where there is a renown reference lab (e.g., mayo, st judes, hopkins, ucsd, stanford, etc.). try to look at result numbers from labs that actually develop tests for others— pcr, etc. hint: not the cdc.

[catnipman]

the UK’s complete unpreparedness and lack of ability to respond is a function of the nearly non-functional and hollowed out 100% socialized-medicine outfit, the UK National Healthcare System ... not only does the UK have an extremely ineffective healthcare system, but it barely has a military or navy anymore either ... when pretty much all tax funds are spent on entitlements, there’s not much remaining for other services ... the UK is a rump nation after losing its empire, and when Scotland and the rest of Ireland, and possibly even Wales split off, there won’t be enough remaining of the UK to call it “United” or “Kingdom” ...