U.K. Coronavirus Antibody Test Passes Trial, Telegraph Reports

(Bloomberg) --

A coronavirus antibody test backed by the U.K. government was 98.6% accurate in secret human trials held last month, the Telegraph reports.

The fingerprick test can tell within 20 minutes if a person has been exposed to the virus. It is developed by Oxford University together with U.K. diagnostics companies, a partnership set up by the government after a consignment of Chinese-made fingerprick tests proved largely useless, the newspaper said.

Thousands of prototypes have been manufactured in the U.K. ahead of regulatory approval, expected in coming weeks. The government is making plans to distribute tests to health-care professionals first before making them available for people to use at home. Current U.K.-approved tests involve sending blood samples to laboratories for analysis, a process that can take days.

This comes as scientists at King’s College London identified six different types of coronavirus using artificial intelligence software that revealed clusters of symptoms, the Telegraph said in a separate report. These findings are likely to help doctors spot the highest-risk patients.

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