Home Testing Kits on their Way!

Millions of new coronavirus testing kits could be ready to order on Amazon in days, rather than weeks or months, according to Public Health England.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously spoken of a simple test for coronavirus as a potential "total game changer" in the battle against COVID-19.

Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England, revealed on Wednesday that millions of such a test have been ordered and could be used "in the near future".

They would show whether an individual had antibodies for COVID-19 which, if they did, would mean they could return to work if they were not showing symptoms.

Evidence suggests people cannot catch coronavirus twice in quick succession, if they have already been infected and recovered, the government has said.

The tests, which look similar to pregnancy tests, could be ordered on Amazon or taken at high street branches such as Boots, Prof Peacock said.

The World Health Organisation has urged countries to step up testing in the global fight against coronavirus.

Mr Johnson has vowed to increase daily testing "from 5,000 a day, to 10,000 to 25,000 and then 250,000".

Appearing before the House of Commons science and technology committee via video link, Prof Peacock said the new tests were "rapidly" being evaluated at a laboratory in Oxford with 3.5 million having already been ordered.

"Further millions are being ordered today," Prof Peacock told MPs.

"But we do need to ensure we understand how they operate, because these are brand new tests."

Prof Peacock revealed the evaluation of the tests would likely be done by the end of this week.

She added: "In the near future people will be able to order a test so they can test themselves or go to Boots or somewhere similar to have their finger-prick test done."

Asked if the availability of the test to the public would be a number of days rather than weeks or months, she replied: "Absolutely."

Prof Peacock told the committee there are "two different models", with one possible model being a test that is ordered via Amazon and performed at home before being sent back to see whether someone tests positive or negative for coronavirus.

Another "might require you to go somewhere like Boots because it requires a blood prick", she added.

Explaining further how the tests would work, she continued: "It looks like a pregnancy test. Except that you're putting a finger with a spot of blood on there.

"You prick your finger like a diabetic would, then get a drop of blood and put it on a filter paper and then run some liquid to make that blood run into the test zone."

Public Health England will be asking some people to have a second blood test, checked with a "gold standard" test, to make sure the kits are working properly, Prof Peacock said.

The tests "can see if you have antibodies, in which case you know you had the infection", she added.

"This is not just for key workers, its for the general population. Over time its expected the proportion of the population will be positive.

"And that will allow them to get back to work."

Prof Peacock said she couldn't comment on whether the tests would be charged for but predicted there "would be an absolutely minimal charge if there was a charge".

Sounds promising.

I believe that once you've had it and recovered you can no longer pass it on, but may have picked that up incorrectly.
However, will people who test positive with this test wear a gold star on their forehead to let others know of their status

No good testing yourself if you are currently under the weather as many might rush to do, the test doesn't test whether you have it, only if you've had it.

Wait until you are feeling better and have the anti-bodies.

Looks like they'll initially be in short supply, and will be used for key workers. However, the idea is to have them available to the wider public a few weeks after that.

It will certainly reduce the death percentages so we can get a better picture

Severe shortage of testing kits!! No bother finding a test for Charlie.

He just said as much just then.

Homes can't get coronavirus, it's all scaremongering.

"Some [attention seeking] "scientists" [wanting more funding]  have suggested [the total bollocks] that as many as 20-30M of us could already have had it, or be suffering from it now."
Fixed that for you.

Interesting to hear Whitty today state that "the only thing worse than no test is a bad test".
Confirms my suspicion that Theresa May has been writing his scripts

There is a case for picking an area (or areas) that is agreed is statistically representative within the UK and doing a mass testing of it, big enough to be statistically viable. You don't need to test everyone. The above could then be back fed to get the full picture.

I.e. if you pick and test 10,000 randomly selected people, and of them 9500 are clear, 400 have it and wouldn't have been tested, and 100 would/ARE tested, you've got a reasonable indication of the bigger picture, like total infection rate is 4x measured. Exactly same principle as an opinion poll, it doesn't need to be that accurate but will give an idea.

Of course this has been done I'm guessing in South Korea, kind of, so if we are broadly same, clever people could get a good idea anyway if they can map our testing criteria to a breakdown of cases there. The "23 million of us are infected and have been for some while" nonsense is totally at odds with the sudden spike in death rates right across Europe, I don't remotely buy that for one minute and I'm sure government advisors don't either. Not all academics have common sense.

More good News:

Wednesday, March 25
21:25 GMT - UK government orders 10,000 ventilators from Dyson: Report
The British government has ordered 10,000 ventilators designed by vacuum cleaner company Dyson, the BBC reported.

"Dyson have received uk govt order for 10,000 ventilators designed and made from scratch. Will also produce an additional 5,000 of which 1000 will be donated to uk. 4,000 to other countries," BBC Business Editor Simon Jack said on Twitter. Dyson's ventilators will be available in early April, Jack added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/india-joins-coronavirus-lockdown-warns-live-updates-200325000843329.html

Because they hate Dyson nearly as much as Tommy Robinson..