A rollout of 10 million Covid-19 antibody tests will get under way next week.
NHS staff and carers will be first to get the blood tests to see if they have had the virus.
The scheme will help get vital frontline staff who test positive back to work and boost understanding of the disease’s spread.
Hailed as a “game-changer”, they could get frontline staff who test positive back to work.
And they could boost understanding of how the virus spreads, informing our lockdown exit planning.
The NHS will offer the tests to frontline health and care workers from next week, who will be monitored to see if they can get a second infection. If further trials are successful, they could be offered to the public within weeks.
Announcing a deal with the pharma giants at yesterday’s daily briefing, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Knowing you have antibodies will help us understand if you are at lower risk of catching, dying from and transmitting coronavirus. From next week, we begin rolling these out in a phased way.”
NHS Confederation chief Niall Dickson added: “This could be a game-changer.
“We don’t know whether antibodies mean you are immune. We also need to know whether those with antibodies can still transmit.
"But this will make a difference in understanding how the virus has spread.”
Mr Hancock also announced a trial of a rapid 20-minute test for current infection of Covid-19, following criticisms that people have waited days or weeks for results. Daily deaths fell to 338 yesterday making a total of 36,042.
The antibody test involves sending blood for lab analysis and Public Health England experts gave the tests initial validation.
But Professor Jon Deeks, of Birmingham University’s Test Evaluation Research Group, said the evaluations had “limitations” and the tests “cannot be described as 100% accurate”.
A further three tests are being assessed.
One from Wales-based Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is expected to gain approval very soon and would be made in the UK.
The Government’s antibody study revealed 17% of Londoners and 5% of people elsewhere tested positive.
The Office for National Statistics found infections seem to have stayed low, despite easing of the lockdown.
The second set of results from the Covid-19 Infection Survey cover 14,599 and just 0.25% tested positive.
So statisticians estimate 137,000 were infected at any one time from May 4 to 17, compared with an estimate of 148,000 for April 27 to May 10.
It could pave the way for further lockdown easing but hospitals warn track-and-trace must be in place. No10 said the tracing app will be ready “in coming weeks”.
Meanwhile, ex-footballer and Mirror columnist Robbie Savage, 45, asked Mr Hancock at the briefing why the “working-class game of football” was still banned.
He said: “Why are some [sports] bodies allowing one-on-one coaching with under-18s and the Football Association are not?”
Mr Hancock said: “These rules have to be in place among the population as a whole because we’ve got to get a grip of this virus.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty added it was hard to play football two metres apart.
