UK’s coronavirus spread is ‘just-about slowing’ as antibody tests could be ‘ready in days’ – senior epidemiologist

Preliminary data shows that the rate of the spread of Covid-19 across the UK has slowed, while antibody tests could be ready in a matter of days, according to Neil Ferguson, one of that nation’s leading experts in the crisis.

Ferguson, a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said that current data indicates that between two and three percent of the UK population has been infected with the virus, up to 40 percent of whom display no symptoms. 

“We think the epidemic is just-about slowing in the UK right now,” Ferguson said Monday.

However, the scientist was quick to downplay making any firm extrapolations from the data, indicating that the trend was indeed positive but that more time and information would be needed. He added that antibody tests were undergoing the final stage of validation before clinical use and could hopefully be in use in “days rather than weeks.”

As of Monday morning, the UK had 19,784 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, resulting in 1,231 deaths.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself has contracted the virus and is in self-isolation in his home above Number 11 Downing St, has said that some 20,000 ex-staff have returned to the NHS to help fight the epidemic, as the UK’s healthcare system strains under the pressure of rampant infection and a dearth of resources.

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