Letter: Editor's pick - Flaws and a ray of hope in pandemic policy (3)

From Tim Joslin, London, UK

You report that, in some countries, many new covid-19 cases can’t be traced to their source of infection. A test exists for the virus itself, but is it also possible to deploy one for antibodies to the virus?

Such a test would help detect transmission chains by revealing those who have recovered from covid-19. It would also allow its morbidity and mortality rates to be more accurately determined, simply by randomly sampling the population of an infected area.

The editor writes:

We have since reported online that many labs are trying to develop tests for the antibodies (6 March, newscienti.st/NS-tests).