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'17% Londoners, 5% of UK residents have COVID-19 antibodies'
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SME Times News Bureau | 22 May, 2020
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a government surveillance study
has shown that 17 per cent of the people in London and around 5 per cent
or more of the population in the rest of the country have tested
positive for COVID-19 antibodies.
Antibody tests tell a person if
they have had the virus and have subsequently developed antibodies in
response, that might help them to fight COVID-19 in the future, reorts
the Metro newspaper.
Addressing a briefing on Thursday, Hancock
said the government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody
tests, with health and care staff, patients and residents prioritised to
receive them from next week.
He added that certification
systems will be developed for people who test positive for antibodies,
so they can be advised on what they can safely do.
While it
remains unclear what level of immunity people develop once they have had
COVID-19, experts hope a degree of immunity lasts for at least a year
or two.
Speaking of the antibody surveillance study, Hancock
said: "This was based on a sample but for the public at large to know
whether or not they have had coronavirus, we need antibody tests are
larger scale.
"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...
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."
This development comes as the UK has reported a
total of 252,246 COVID-19 cases, with 36,124 deaths, the highest number
of fatalities in Europe.
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