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Coronavirus: Can I get tested for coronavirus? Coronavirus: Why does testing matter?
(1 day later)
Testing is key to tackling coronavirus and the UK hopes to increase the number of people tested to 25,000 a day in the coming weeks. The UK has been criticised for failing to test more people for coronavirus.
Daily testing reached about 8,000 people by the end of March. But why is testing important and how does the UK compare with other countries?
What is the test?What is the test?
To find out if someone currently has Covid-19, a swab is taken of their nose or throat and this is sent off to a lab to look for signs of the virus's genetic material. The main type of test to see if someone has Covid-19, is taking a swab of their nose or throat.
This is sent off to a lab to look for signs of the virus's genetic material.
Can I get tested?Can I get tested?
At the moment, most of the tests are being reserved for seriously ill patients in hospital. Most people with symptoms can't get tested to see if they are currently infected with coronavirus. Testing is not yet available for most people.
But these tests are now being made available to doctors and nurses who have symptoms, or who live in a household with someone who does. Tests for other health and care workers will follow. At the moment, most tests are reserved for seriously ill patients in hospital.
Why is testing important? It means the majority of people who have symptoms can't find out if they are currently infected with coronavirus.
There are two main reasons for testing people - to diagnose them individually, and to try to understand how widely and to whom the virus has spread ("surveillance testing"). Tests are now being made available to doctors and nurses who have symptoms, or who live in a household with someone who does. Tests for other health and care workers will follow.
This can allow the health service to plan for extra demand on intensive care units. However, only 2,000 of the NHS's 500,000 frontline staff had been tested by 09:00 BST on Wednesday.
It can inform decisions around tightening or relaxing social distancing measures - for example, if it became known that the virus had already infected large numbers of people then a lockdown might become less necessary. Overall, 152,979 people in the UK had been tested.
And not testing more widely means that many people might be self-isolating for no good reason, including NHS workers.
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, "we cannot stop this pandemic if we do not know who is infected".
Why isn't the UK doing more tests?Why isn't the UK doing more tests?
The UK does not appear to have the resources to do mass testing at the moment.The UK does not appear to have the resources to do mass testing at the moment.
The government said it has reached the lab capacity to do about 12,000 tests, but so far just over 8,000 people are being tested a day. The government's target for daily testing by mid-April is 25,000. However, only 13,000 can currently be done each day and just 8,630 were carried out on Monday.
At first, Public Health England was only conducting the test at its own eight laboratories. This has been expanded to 40 NHS labs - so 48 labs in total. Some NHS trusts say they can only carry out a limited number of tests because of shortages of swabs, testing kits and reagents.
Testing depends not just on the number of labs, but on the availability of machines, test kits and the chemicals these kits need to work. These components are in high demand globally. A reagent is the substance used to extract the virus's genetic material so it can be studied more easily. At the moment there is high global demand for reagents, which is why they are hard to obtain.
There has also been concern about the number of labs being used to look at the tests.
At first, Public Health England was only using its own eight laboratories. This has been expanded to 40 NHS labs - so, 48 labs in total.
The government says it is working with other organisations to recruit more laboratories and sites for testing. The laboratory capacity of universities and research institutes is set to be used to test NHS workers.
Why is testing important?
There are two main reasons for testing people - to diagnose who has got the virus and who has had it.
Having this information could help the health service plan for extra demand, including on intensive care units.
Testing could also inform decisions around social distancing measures. For example, if large numbers of people were found to have already been infected, then a lockdown might become less necessary.
And not testing more widely means many people might be self-isolating for no reason, including NHS workers.
An antibody test is used to see whether someone has already had the virus. They look for signs of immunity in the blood by using a drop of blood on a device, a bit like a pregnancy test.
The government has bought three-and-a-half million antibody tests, but they are not yet available to use. The tests are still being checked to make sure they work.
How about the rest of the world?
South Korea, which has been able to test far more widely than the UK has, acted very quickly to approve the production of testing kits, allowing it to build up a stockpile.South Korea, which has been able to test far more widely than the UK has, acted very quickly to approve the production of testing kits, allowing it to build up a stockpile.
Despite having a slightly smaller population than the UK, it has twice as many labs and about two-and-a-half times the weekly testing capacity.Despite having a slightly smaller population than the UK, it has twice as many labs and about two-and-a-half times the weekly testing capacity.
What about antibody tests? Germany has carried out more than three times as many tests as the UK.
The testing being done at the moment looks for signs someone currently has the virus. By 27 March, it had tested 1,096 per 100,000 citizens, while as of 1 April, the UK had tested 348 per 100,000 of the population.
There is another type of test - an antibody test - which looks for signs of immunity in the blood and could show whether someone's already had coronavirus. That compares with 895 per 100,000 for Italy, 842 per 100,000 for South Korea, 348 per 100,000 for USA and 27 per 100,000 for Japan.
Antibody tests use a drop of blood on a device a bit like a pregnancy test.
These could help work out how widespread the disease has been and whether people who may have been self-isolating - including vital NHS staff - are safe to go back to work.
The government has bought three-and-a-half million antibody tests, but they are not yet available to use. The tests are still being checked to make sure they work.
An inaccurate test which tells someone they have immunity when they don't could be very problematic.
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What do I need to know about the coronavirus?What do I need to know about the coronavirus?