Britain’s effort to speed up coronavirus testing hit by faulty antibody kits
- Oxford University researchers found that many of the rapid-test kits can’t accurately show whether someone was exposed to the virus
- The government had ordered more than 4 million of these tests, which can be as simple as finger-prick devices
Multiple tests provided for evaluation “have not performed well,” said John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford and adviser to the government on life sciences.
The home-testing kits are designed to look in people’s blood for antibodies produced by the immune system to fight the virus. Many countries are hoping these kinds of tests can determine the true scope of the pandemic and reveal who has built up immunity to Covid-19 and can return to a more normal life – but they must be accurate.
Germany estimates such tools may be three months away, Bell wrote. It could be at least a month before Britain can find a reliable version, he said.
“Sadly, the tests we have looked at to date have not performed well,” Bell said in a blog post. “This is not a good result for test suppliers or for us.”
British officials said on March 25 that they’d ordered more than 4 million of these tests, which can be as simple as finger-prick devices. They said the kits could have been made available on Amazon and at pharmacies.