Coronary Mayhem: Millions of Game Changer test kits fail to control quality

Millions of antibody test kits ordered by the government as a "potential game changer" in the battle against the coronavirus crisis have turned out to be futile.

The UK's chief testing officer, Professor John Newton, said that the groups, which have been ordered from China, can only determine immunity in patients with a serious virus disease, and not only in patients with mild symptoms. Health Minister Matt Hancock initially raised hopes for a widely available pregnancy test kit two weeks ago when he suggested that tests would be available "within a few days" on Amazon and via Potts.

Tests should have allowed people who were infected with the virus to return to the workplace, confident they would know their safety.

But the ministers have since reduced the chances of such a scenario as Health Minister Matt Hancock admitted that the tests were not "good enough".

Scientists involved in verifying home test kits have not found one on the market that is reliable enough.

He is "surprised that the government was confident enough" to continue buying millions of tests, said a British lead researcher working on laboratory antibody tests for COVID-19.

He said: "Many of us did a double job."

Another British scientist said that none of the home test kits being evaluated were working well enough to validate them for public use.

Professor Newton said plans to purchase millions of sets from the shelf had been canceled and that government scientists would now work with companies to improve the performance of existing antibody tests.

He said he was optimistic that the tools would be useful within months, but public health expert Dam Deirdre Heine said it was "hard to understand" why the government had not planned to conduct further tests.

"It is hard to understand why both antigen testing and antibody testing take a long time to take off," said Ms. Dirder Hain, who headed a highly official cash critique of Britain's response to the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

And she said, "I think if there is one thing that might be the best answer this time, it is asking the evidence."

Meanwhile, a survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found that less than a third of doctors with symptoms of COVID-19 could be tested for the disease.

The survey also found that one in five people did not have access to the personal protective equipment they needed to safely treat patients with coronavirus.

RCP President Professor Andrew Goddard said that the survey results for 2513 respondents was "a clear indication of the very difficult situation facing our NHS members."

Health Minister Matt Hancock said that 8 percent of frontline employees in the National Health Service isolate themselves and not work, but the RCP survey indicates that the number may reach 14 percent.

Professor Goddard said: "It is clear that the current government strategy to provide evidence supporting NHS employees to return to the workforce as quickly as possible, is not working."

Share this post