UK in talks to buy 'game changer' coronavirus antibody test

File picture: IANS.

File picture: IANS.

Published Mar 19, 2020

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London - Britain is in talks to buy a

coronavirus antibody test that could be a game changer if it

works and already scientists are making progress in finding

medicines that can fight the disease, Prime Minister Boris

Johnson said on Thursday.

"We are in negotiations today to buy a so-called antibody

test, as simple as a pregnancy test, that can tell whether you

have had the disease," Johnson told a news conference.

"It is early days but if it works as its proponents claim,

then we will buy literally hundreds of thousands of these kits

as soon as practicable because obviously it has the potential to

be a total game changer," he added.

Johnson also said scientists were making headway in removing

the "cloak of invisibility" that surrounds the virus to fully

understand its workings.

"Today we've put the first British corona patient into a

randomised trial for drugs that may treat the disease. UK

experts, scientists expect to start trials for the first vaccine

within a month," Johnson said.

"This is rapidly coming down the track, but it will take

time to come on stream," he said of the scientific advancements.

Reuters

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