‘None Of 3.5 Million Antibody Tests Ordered From China Are Fit For Widespread Use’: UK’s Covid-19 Testing Chief

Admitting that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from China are fit for widespread use, the United Kingdom’s new testing chief said the government scientists are instead hoping to work with the private companies to improve the performance of the antibody tests, reports The Times.

Professor John Newton, who has been recently appointed to oversee the Covid-19 testing in UK, has said that the Chinese antibody tests were only able to identify immunity in people who had been severely sick with Coronavirus.

The tests did not pass the evaluation stage, and he was quoted by The Times as saying that they were “not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale”.

He further added that UK was no longer hoping to buy millions of kits off the shelf.

Newton said he was “optimistic” that commercial partners willing to work with scientists who had been evaluating the tests would be able to improve them.

Antibody testing is regarded as crucial to eventually lifting the lockdown measures in place across the country as it could potentially identify those people who are immune to the Coronavirus.