DIY coronavirus antibody tests are still being evaluated – despite promises to start rolling them out in mid-April, a senior Government official today admitted.
Professor Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England’s medical director, said the millions of kits Number 10 had ordered in principle were ‘under investigation’.
Her comments came after one manufacturer of a finger-prick kits warned it could take six weeks for them to have any antibody tests ready for Britons to use at home.
BioSure, one of the firms in talks with the Government to make 17.5million home-kits, has been asked to get ready to ramp up production.
But no DIY antibody tests have been approved yet, meaning the company is holding off on mass-producing the kits in case stringent medical tests fail.
Brigette Bard, BioSure’s chief executive, warned the delay could mean it won’t have any kits ready for Britons to use in the comfort of their own home until mid-May.
Last night it was claimed that officials had finally agreed deals to purchase millions of home antibody tests to start being used in the UK by mid-April.
It comes as ministers were today facing a furious backlash after it emerged the UK is still not carrying out 10,000 tests a day – despite claims the level had been hit.
Professor Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England’s medical director, said the millions of kits Number 10 had ordered in principle were ‘under investigation’
NHS staff get tested for the coronavirus at a facility specifically for health workers in Surrey
A testing station has been set up for NHS workers only in Chessington, Surrey. Healthcare staff are crying out for regular testing so they can be sure they are safe to work with patients
In tonight’s Downing Street press conference, Professor Doyle said the tests would be point-of-care, meaning they could be done ‘in the home’.
She added: ‘This testing needs to be evaluated to make sure it is valid- in other words, that it does what it says and at scale.
‘This would be large numbers. We want to make sure we are doing something that is safe and is actually valid and correct when it is ready.’
Her comments echo the concerns of England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, who last week warned that the only thing worse than no test was a bad test.
Britain has repeatedly been criticised for its controversial testing policy to only swab patients in hospital for the killer coronavirus.
It means the true size of the Britain’s outbreak is a mystery because officials have no idea who is actually infected.
A top Government adviser today suggested up to 2million people may already have caught the deadly coronavirus.
And University of Oxford scientists last week claimed that up to half of the UK could have already caught the disease, called COVID-19.
But official figures show 20,000 patients have tested positive. The death toll currently stands at around 1,200.
The World Health Organization earlier this month warned the only way to get a grip on the escalating pandemic was to ‘test, test, test’.
Confusion has surrounded Britain’s plan to buy millions of antibody kits, which last week it was revealed would have to be sent off in the post.
Professor Doyle said samples would need to be sent to a lab and analysed by specialists – a process that could take as long as a day.
It is unclear who makes the antibody kits that would need to be posted – Number 10 has been tight-lipped regarding the whole testing regime.
But the Government is also still in talks with firms that produce home-testing kits, which can give results in 10 minutes.
Number 10 originally claimed to have ordered 3.5million kits in principle. It is unclear whether these relate strictly to just the postal kits.
But ministers have now claimed to have ordered 17.5million kits, in principle. It is thought most of these will be home-tests, which will be available in batches – as and when they are ready.
The Department of Health and Social Care has identified a number of suppliers who can make the antibody tests, if they past medical checks.
Despite repeated requests from MailOnline, officials have refused to confirm which firms are in the running.
BioSure’s Ms Bard said it was ‘hugely optimistic’ for the Government to say it could get its tests out in three weeks, adding ‘six weeks is more likely’.
She warned that she cannot scale up any manufacturing until they are approved, in case the finger-prick kits fail stringent medical checks – which would be a great expense to the company.
BioSure already makes a home-testing kit for HIV, which looks for antibodies in the blood and gives a result in 15 minutes.
BioSure claims to have developed an at-home finger prick test that takes a quarter of an hour
It works exactly like the firm’s HIV self test, which requires the user to take a drop of blood using a safety lancet before using its pen device to scan the sample for COVID-19 antibodies
Its test, which is currently being evaluated, has just been recalibrated to look for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
Other companies in discussion with the Government are likely to be in a similar position as Essex-based BioSure.
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease specialist at the University of East Anglia agreed that the order of 17.5million kits by mid-April ‘does seem a stretch’.
He told MailOnline: ‘Certainly we need to get a substantial proportion of them distributed to people as soon as possible.’
Derby-based SureScreen is one company that has been approached by Number 10. It claims it can make 500,000 of its home-tests each week.
Ministers hope the antibody tests will identify contagion hotspots as well as people who are immune.
The tests would help get NHS staff back to work with screening of frontline workers, such as teachers and police officers, to follow.
The programme could see movement restrictions lifted earlier than the six months suggested by the Government’s scientific advisers yesterday.
‘The top priority is randomised testing to establish how far the disease has spread,’ a Whitehall source said.
The UK could start giving out coronavirus ‘immunity’ certificates like Germany to allow millions of Britons out of lockdown.
Otherwise, there is no official way of keeping track of who has already battled the virus and has developed some form of immunity.
A car drivers into the testing facility at the make-shift drive-through facility in Surrey
A worker wearing a face mask and apron stands waiting as a car approaches for a drive-through coronavirus in test
For weeks Britain has relied on swabs to test patients in hospital, a lengthy process which can take up to two days.
Officials finally announced on Friday that they would begin antigen testing on NHS frontline staff.
It comes after former health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he believes testing is key to the relaxation of social distancing measures.
Writing in the Daily Mail, he asked: ‘Is it too far-fetched to aim to be the first country that tests every single member of the population at home?
‘Mass social distancing will help flatten the curve, but only testing will save us from months, maybe years, of anguish and economic paralysis.’
Iceland has already carried out a population-wide testing programme and Norway announced one yesterday.
It comes after the president of the Royal College of Physicians today said up to 30 per cent of its staff is currently off work.
Professor Andrew Goddard told BBC Breakfast coronavirus testing being rolled out to frontline NHS workers would make a ‘big difference’.
He said: ‘I have got lots of colleagues at the moment who are sitting at home with family members who have got symptoms.
‘They themselves don’t have symptoms and are champing at the bit to try to get back to work.
‘So, if we can get the tests and get those people back on the shop floor, then that would be brilliant.’
Scientists fear that lifting restrictions too early – before the virus is in retreat –could lead to a second spike in deaths.
Britain is currently conducting only ‘antigen’ testing – a swab that requires laboratory analysis. A drive through test facility is pictured above in the car park of Chessington World of Adventures, London
Professor Hunter said: ‘If you relax social distancing based on a levelling off of cases you could see a resurgence. So we have to be cautious about that because we just don’t know enough about what is going on.
‘But if we know, through mass antibody testing, that a large proportion of the population is immune, you could lift social distancing much earlier.’
Ministers decided earlier this month to reserve all Britain’s testing capacity for those in hospitals.
But that move has left officials ‘blindfolded’ in their response to the crisis, the World Health Organisation has warned. It has called on all countries to ‘test, test, test’.
The Government has been fiercely criticised for failing to prioritise testing, with the daily figures failing to yet hit 10,000. In Germany, by comparison, officials are testing more than 70,000 people a day.
Even front-line NHS staff were not being tested until this weekend, which meant 20 per cent were in self-isolation last week.
South Korea – initially one of the worst hit countries – managed to quickly control its outbreak by aggressively testing for the disease.
Germany yesterday announced plans for a testing programme that will see it issue 100,000 ‘immunity passports’ a month.
Professor Eleanor Riley, an infectious disease expert at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Mass antibody testing will give us a much better idea of how widely the virus has spread in the population.’
Medical equipment is pictured outside London’s Excel centre, which has been turned into NHS Nightingale Hospital. One in four Britons could be tested for coronavirus to try to shorten the lockdown
In a sign that ministers have finally accepted the urgency of mass testing, officials have agreed deals to buy 17.5million kits for use by mid-April. They hope to identify contagion hotspots as well as people who are immune. An NHS worker is pictured above being tested for the virus in the car park of Chessington World of Adventures in London
The Government has been fiercely criticised for failing to prioritise testing, with the daily figures failing to yet hit 10,000. In Germany, by comparison, officials are testing more than 70,000 people a day
STEVE NIMMO: I’m pretty sure I just survived two weeks of hell with the coronavirus – which should make me immune – but without a test to say for sure I’m stuck at home uselessly like the rest of you
The small but persistent cough I had after flying from Miami via Montreal back to London wasn’t anything serious: just a typical post-flight, low level bug. Wasn’t it?
This was at the time when the official health advice was if you have a cough AND a temperature, then you COULD have the Covid-19 virus.
But I now believe that what started as mild symptoms quickly developed into crippling coronavirus symptoms.
I’m not a good patient. You’ve probably met the type. He’s usually a man, could be your dad. He refuses to go to the doctor for anything and is ‘never ill’. That’s me. And at 53 I’m not in the age danger zone anyway.
A cough on its own didn’t make me sick, did it?
MailOnline’s Steve Nimmo believes he already suffered from Coronavirus but can’t be sure
No one wants to be sick but you really don’t want to be a ‘super spreader’ either – like that guy who earned that embarrassing title after skiing in the Alps then infecting a ton of people at the beginning if this pandemic.
So I bought a digital thermometer to monitor my temperature and I decided to be polite and cough AWAY from loved ones and colleagues.
Then came the Saturday night fever. It wasn’t a joke. It started in the evening and by 8pm I was feeling, well, flu-ey.
Monday morning I called my doctor’s office. My chest was congested and my temperature had topped out at 37.2 (98.6). Not in the 38 (100.4) degrees danger zone according to the NHS – but worth a mention.
The doctor prescribed me penicillin and a new inhaler (I’d had one years before for asthma) after questions over the phone: ‘What colour is the stuff your coughing up? Really? Ok you should isolate for 14 days.’
And so it began.
My only experience of regular flu was one episode in my early 20s and it floored me. This was tame by comparison. I was still down-playing the symptoms in my head. ‘No way could this be THE virus, could it?’ – but nevertheless, I dutifully isolated.
At this point my thought process was that I just needed to get through this 14-day period then I can get out and take advantage of the quiet streets. I’ll get a table at that Michelin-starred restaurant that’s impossible to get into (I’ve had my eye on Core by Clare Smyth). This was before all restaurants closed.
But then I lost my sense of smell and taste. I mean I could not smell a thing for two days. Period. So that scuppered my plans for high-end dining. Yes, I really was thinking like this at that point.
Steve Nimmo on holiday in Florida before returning to the UK and becoming unwell
The doc told me to call back if things got worse. I called her on Wednesday. The receptionist said I should call NHS111 and ask for a swab test. But they said they’d stopped doing that. OK, so I’ll keep taking the penicillin and painkillers then.
A daily pattern emerged: Morning, not bad, thinking I’ve beaten this damn bug. Afternoon, my airways became constricted. Evening brought the terror: Shivering with cold – real body shuddering so that I had to take extra care walking down my stairs so as not to fall over. In addition, coughing fits that would not stop and panting for air.
So now my ‘Am I REALLY sick?’ checklist was: A 99.8 degree temperature high; fever chills and sweats; pains in hands, shinbones, teeth, feet; terrible coughing; lost sense of smell; restricted breathing and a new one: numbness.
On Thursday evening all my fingers lost feeling and developed icy pins and needles. Now I was firmly in the ‘I am so sick please help me!’ camp.
Steve Nimmo pictured in Florida on holiday immediately before returning to UK
Without an anti-body test there is currently no way of knowing if Steve has really had the virus
I took a hot shower – it’s the only thing I could think of to get feeling back in my fingers. I worried they were going to die on my hands, go purple and have to be amputated.
Twenty minutes of making fists with both hands as I shuddered under a hot shower and I started to get feeling back. But now my toes were tingling and going numb. I swore out loud. Not for the first time.
I got to bed, took paracetamol with codeine and started to get hot. This was good. I’d burn up and sweat it out while lying very still so as not to exert energy because I could’t get enough air into my lungs to breathe.
By morning I needed a change of t-shirt (it was three a night now) and I was enjoying daily, clean bedsheets. But I was in danger of running out of laundry pods.
Morning came and with it, respite. A lower temperature, less coughing and reasonable breathing. But this was only a temporary retreat from the virus before the Friday night assault that was a real horror show.
At precisely 4:30pm while Skyping my brother in Barcelona, I observed that my breathing is beginning to get difficult.
Between 6:30 and 9:30 I was shivering in bed before getting hot again. I couldn’t sleep. Now I was getting delirious because I was starting to consider that if my breathing gets any worse, I’ll may die here.
My mind raced. I could get in my car , drive to St Mary’s A&E in Paddington – my nearest hospital in north London – and collapse at their door. Or maybe it would be better to call an ambulance. I imagined putting a general call for help out on Facebook with my address. But I hate attention seekers on social media so I resolved to either drive to the hospital or die in bed with dignity. Then my thoughts really got weird.
Somehow I fell asleep and survived the night. I was genuinely surprised when I woke up alive, soaking wet and breathing reasonably.
When I rehydrated, I called NHS111 and this time I was speaking to a medically untrained moron. That’s probably not fair but that was what I was thinking when he was making whooping noises at the prospect of 98.2 temperatures and telling me that anything over 90 is dangerous. Even 80+ is not normal he said and ‘it’s dangerous to google these things’ he further advised.
He said that I definitely qualified for a nurse visit and it definitely would not take long. Definitely within 24-hours. He took down all my details. No nurse arrived. That was eight days ago.
My situation now is that after that terrible Friday night I stopped going into fever and have gradually improved. Now it’s just a cough and moderate asthma I’m dealing with. I’m working from home.
But did I have THE virus? With no testing how can I know. Do I have antibodies? Again, no test is available so I can’t be sure.
Months from now there will be an army of recovered people . I am possibly one of them. They can’t pass on the infection and can’t get it again quickly, we are told. That could be a great resource for the nation. We can safely go back to work. But we need testing to know who they are.
It’s clear from the UK Government’s evasiveness on the topic that virus tests were ordered far too late. Next week frontline NHS staff are supposed to be getting tested. Let’s hope that does happen.
And then, probably weeks after that, I hope to find out if I was really sick with Covid-19 – or was it just a non-specific airplane bug gone wild?
Ocado buys 100,000 testing kits for staff costing £1.4million as supermarkets ramp up safety measures but vows to hand them to NHS workers if they are left without
By Lara Keay
Ocado has bought 100,000 coronavirus testing kits for its staff at a cost of £1.4million, but have promised to hand them to the NHS if they need them.
The food delivery company wants all of its workers to be tested regularly to ensure they are safe to drop off supplies to elderly or vulnerable customers who are ‘sheilding’.
Ocado claims 40,000 tests have already been delivered to stores across the UK, with 60,000 more to go, reports The Guardian.
But the firm refused to reveal where they have bought the tests, with questions raised over why supermarket staff have been able to get access to them before thousands of NHS frontline workers.
The Government has been slammed for its slow roll out of testing for staff, who are being forced to stay away from work if they or people in their household have symptoms, creating a devastating knock-on effect for patient care.
Public Health England has bought 3.5million testing kits, but these are currently only available for critical care staff and are taking time to reach other key hospital workers.
Private health firms have also come under fire for selling businesses test kits for as much as £295 each.
Meanwhile supermarkets Waitrose, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have not yet announced any plans to swab their staff to see if they have the virus.
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has said roll-out of testing will begin for frontline healthcare workers this week after some staff were sampled on Saturday and Sunday.
The latest letter states that key NHS staff and anyone they live with who is ill are first in line for testing.
It says hospitals should ‘start this week with those working in critical care, emergency departments and ambulance services, and any other high priority groups you determine locally.
‘We will then sequentially expand to other NHS staff groups as more tests are made available to the NHS, and ultimately into other essential public services including social care.
‘In the first instance, we ask that you identify those staff in these initial priority groups (including critical care, emergency departments and ambulance services) who are unable to work because of the requirement for 14-day self-isolation.
‘These are staff living in a household where another individual may have Covid-19.
‘Trust chief executives tell us that, while this is the right action for staff members to have taken, it is this group that is causing the greatest degree of absenteeism, potentially for no underlying clinical reason on the part of the staff member herself/himself.
‘NHS organisations will use these tests to allow key staff to return to work if the index case in their home is Covid-19 free.’
Trusts are told to identify staff or household members who need to be tested, ‘with a particular focus on testing the suspected coronavirus sufferer in a quarantined household which is shared with a key NHS staff member’.
Trusts should initially allocate up to 15 per cent of daily testing capacity for this purpose, and tests should be carried out as soon after symptoms develop as possible ‘to maximise the accuracy of the result’.
A share of the 15 per cent should also be made available for ambulance trusts and any other high priority groups determined locally, the letter says.