One in 20 in UK and 17% of Londoners have had coronavirus, study finds

Mr Hancock also said the Government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody tests
Imogen Braddick29 May 2020

An antibody surveillance study suggests 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent of the rest of the nation have coronavirus antibodies, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

He told the daily Downing Street briefing: “This has told us that around 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent or higher in the rest of the country have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.”

Antibody tests tell people whether they have had the virus and whether antibodies have developed, Mr Hancock said.

But he warned that the Government is not yet in a position to say those who develop antibodies are immune to the virus.

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Mr Hancock said certification systems will be developed for people who test positive for antibodies.

“It’s not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring," he said.

“It’s that knowing that you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus.

“We’re developing this critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given assurances of what they can safely do.”

Mr Hancock also said the Government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody tests, with the rollout starting with health and care staff, patients and residents from next week.

“We’ve signed contracts to supply in the coming months over 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott," he said.

“From next week we will begin rolling these out in a phased way, at first to health and care staff, patients and residents.

“The UK Government has arranged supplies of these tests on behalf of the devolved administrations and each devolved nation is deciding how to use its test allocation and how testing will be prioritised and managed locally.

“This is an important milestone and it represents further progress in our national testing programme.”

One of the new antibody tests to be rolled out across the UK is being produced in South Wales.

It is understood that Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, which has a factory in Pencoed, Bridgend, is the only firm producing the blood tests in the UK.​

The company's senior director of operations Paul Hales said: “We have built a deep manufacturing expertise here in Wales over many years enabling us to produce these important products.

“The team has been working day and night to reach a mass scale of production of our Covid-19 assays. At Ortho, we believe every test is a life and are proud to see these kits being used in Wales.”

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