Matt Hancock admits all antibody kits so far have FAILED to work – with up to 3 in 4 positive results missed
MATT Hancock today admitted that the Government still doesn't have a reliable antibody kit it can use - despite promising to ramp up testing by the end of the month.
The Health Secretary said last night that a crucial part of getting the UK back to work again would be to use immunity certificates or wristbands which could be worn if people had had the bug.
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A finger prick blood test can be done at home in just 20 minutes, but Mr Hancock has not yet found one that actually works, so they can't be used as part of the goal to get to 100,000.
Last night he said that several of the antibody kits had failed accuracy tests - with three in four positive results being missed.
He told BBC Radio 4 this morning: "I think that the antibody test, the blood test, at the moment we haven't got a reliable home test.
"If we manage to get one then that can be easily replicated and we can get into even higher figures, much higher figures."
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Another 569 people were confirmed to have died of Covid-19 yesterday - taking the UK total to more than 2,900.
His five-point plan to get to 100,000 tests a day by the end of April included:
- A vow to carry out 25,000 swab tests a day in NHS hospitals and PHE labs to test patients for Covid-19, by the end of April – up from 10k a day now
- Creation of new swab testing capacity with help of commercial partners including Amazon, Boots and universities in new labs and testing sites for NHS staff and their families
- ‘Game-changing’ antibody tests to tell if people have had coronavirus, and are immune to it. Finger-prick blood test takes as little as 20 minutes, and Government is working with nine companies to test whether they work. But could take up to 28 days to show best results
- Virus surveillance, using the antibody test to understand the rate of infection and how the virus is spreading across the UK. Key to helping us exit the crisis.
- Build the British diagnostic industry “at scale” – with the pharmaceutical industry, including major drugs firms Astra Zeneca and GSK
All NHS staff will be able to have a test by the end of the month, he promised.
“That is the goal and I’m determined were going to get there,” Mr Hancock insisted.
However, experts have doubted whether it can be done.
Keith Plumb, a chemical engineer on the board of trustees at the Institution of Chemical Engineers, told Sky News: "Setting up what appears to be effectively a new industry within the UK in such a short amount of time doesn't really seem to be that practical.
"I'm not saying we can't do it, but it does seem to be quite difficult.
"I wouldn't say it was a completely empty promise but the task is very great - the proverbial 'herculean task'.
This morning he said the lockdown would be in place for a number of weeks yet, and said Britain would be reaching the peak "sooner than expected" because of the tough measures put in place telling everyone to stay home.
Mr Hancock said coronavirus felt like there was "glass in my throat" and stressed that he had a cough too.
He lost half a stone from being unable to eat or drink, as well.