To ask Her Majesty's Government, if a reliable COVID-19 antibody test is found, (1) which, (2) when, (3) how, (4) by whom, and (5) with what frequency, people will be tested.
Answered on
27 July 2020
Antibody testing is a key part of the Government’s testing programme and will play an increasingly important role as we move into the next phase of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A positive antibody test result indicates that a person has previously had the virus and developed some form of immune response. However, we do not currently know how long an antibody response to the virus lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot transmit the virus to others. Our understanding of the virus will grow as new scientific evidence and studies emerge.