Coronavirus antibody test passes first major trials in UK with 98.6% accuracy
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The fingerprick tests can tell within 20 minutes if a person has ever been exposed to the coronavirus, and have been found to be 98.6% accurate in secret human trials held in June.
The UK is set to distribute millions of free coronavirus antibody tests after a version passed its first major trials.
The fingerprick tests can tell within 20 minutes if a person has ever been exposed to the coronavirus, and have been found to be 98.6% accurate in secret human trials held in June, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Friday.
It added the test was developed by the UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), a partnership between Oxford University and leading UK diagnostics firms.
Ttens of thousands of prototypes have already been manufactured in factories across the United Kingdom, and a regulatory approval is awaited.
Ministers are hoping that the AbC-19 lateral flow test will be available for use in a mass screening programme before the end of the year, the newspaper reported.
The tests are likely to be free and would be ordered online instead of being sold in supermarkets, according to plans cited by the newspaper.