Government to ask UK businesses to develop antibody testing kits
Health secretary Matt Hancock is set to issue a rallying cry for British businesses to make antibody testing kits after millions purchased by the government had to be thrown away.
The government will ask UK companies to help develop millions of the DIY finger prick testing kits to distribute to homes across the country.
The tests would help end the coronavirus lockdown by determining if someone has caught the virus and now has an immunity.
The Times reported today that Hancock will personally ask UK businesses to join in a “national effort” to make the testing kits, similar to what was done for ventilators.
The health secretary will speak on a conference call with industry leaders in an attempt to hatch out a plan to produce and distribute antibody tests within months.
The government previously ordered millions of antibody tests from China and other countries, however they were proven to be ineffective and had to be thrown away.
A government source told The Times: “We have some of the finest scientific minds in the world working in different areas and we want to bring people together to deliver these tests.”
Hancock has set a target for 100,000 antigen tests, which test if someone has Covid-19 at the time of testing, by the end of the month.
The UK is currently testing just 14,000 people per day.
Yesterday, chief medical officer Chris Whitty admitted that the UK’s slow start to testing meant that the coronavirus outbreak had been worse than in Germany.
“We all know that Germany got ahead in terms of its ability to do testing for the virus,” he said.
“There’s a lot to learn from that and we’ve been trying to learn the lessons.”