well as w-h-o urges countries to step up
testing their citizens for coronavirus
the UK government appears to be adopting
a different approach yesterday it said
it would only test people in hospital
for covered 19 rather than those with
suspected cases at home now we've been
speaking exclusively to a British
company which says it has developed a
rapid testing kit
the company says results can be obtained
in around 10 minutes NHS testing takes
much longer they're shipping the kits to
pharmacies in the UK next week and hope
to eventually distribute them to the
wider public while Victoria McDonald is
in Belfast for us tonight Victoria yes
well you heard Fatima they're talking
about concerns questions over whether
the UK government has actually gone far
enough
for instance they didn't talk at all
last night about social isolation and
what we are seeing now is people taking
things into their own hands we've heard
of nursing homes that are closing
wanting to protect their residents
telling visitors not to come we've heard
of as you said sporting sporting
fixtures the Premier League and the
London Marathon
there is a real fear of a real sense of
fear growing actually in the community
and that's where this kit comes in that
you mentioned a new potential testing
kit that can we could use to determine
whether we have coronavirus those boxes
on the right are packed and ready to be
sent to Bahrain today inside of this
company's first-ever shipment of a
10-minute self testing kit for Khalid 19
from next week they'll be sent around
the UK and what is believed to be the
first rapid tests available in this
country if you have symptoms first that
that's the important thing
you should ideally wait three days from
when you first got symptoms to when you
carry out the tests if that comes up
negative it is still possible that your
body hasn't produced enough antibodies
yet that can be detected so in that case
you're best to wait on further two to
three days and
the test if you're still negative then
then it is likely that you don't have
the coronavirus it's perhaps you have
the flu or the common cold or some other
related illness channel 4 news was given
exclusive access as this company
prepared these highly sought-after
diagnostic parcels even as we were there
the phone was ringing off the hook we
can't say though where we are they are
deeply worried that the public will come
knocking on the door asking for the kits
yet for the moment they can only be used
by health care professionals the first
distribution will be to pharmacists to
test their staff
we are working with manufacturer partner
of ours to credit the the test and get a
notifiable body to give the necessary
certification so that we can provide it
to the public again through the pharmacy
channel so making the tests available to
be sold in pharmacies either online
pharmacies through our all our partners
all our customers while our pharmacy
customers it is hoped they will have the
go-ahead to make this testing kits
available to the public within the next
three weeks the NHS test is a swab to
detect the virus itself whereas this
test is to see if you have produced
antibodies to the virus that causes
covered 19 it is simple to use I'm going
to take a finger prick blood sample and
I'm going to add it to the test cassette
and then I will add some buffer and that
will help the blood sample flow along
the strip and then we will check to see
whether you have a positive or negative
result beneath my calm exterior of
course I was nervous we have been told
this virus is spreading across the
country and that there may be between
five and ten thousand cases today alone
saw a jump of more than 200 people who
are self who are remaining at home do
not need testing and we will pivot all
of the testing capacity to identify
people in hospitals who have got
symptoms
the announcement made yesterday leaves
question marks over the use of testing
stations like this one at Craig a van
area hospital in Northern Ireland so
we'll probably be able to repurpose the
pod for some other activity related to
covet like what well for example we're
very keen to try and make sure that
patients with coffered don't come into
contact with patients who don't have
covered in our emergency departments
what is not clear is how the government
will now know the true level of covered
19 in the population but it is likely
that this gap will mean some people will
now want to test themselves for the
moment though it will be in the hands of
pharmacists who are worried about
protecting their own staff as increasing
numbers of patients turn to them for
advice we intend to stay open to the
public to provide services in a CF an
effective way obviously medicines apply
to patients is our priority and we need
to make sure we do that safely with
patients equally to ensure that we can
stay open need to abide by those
recommendations and not come to their
pharmacy if they feel that they're in
any way affected with covert 19 there
are at least 15 rapid self testing kits
like this one being evaluated by public
health England they want of course
assurance of their accuracy and this
company does say any positive results
should be followed up with an NHS test
so the ten minutes up and I was allowed
to look was i infected or not which
means that you do not have antibodies in
your blood specific for this coronavirus
also I didn't have coronavirus good not
yet yes well you can imagine I was quite
relieved about that but the fact is that
many of us are going to contract covered
19:00 and today we've heard about more
and more hospitals who are closing off
wards preparing to receive numbers of
patients in fact here in Northern
Ireland the health ministers warned
that services health services would be
significantly curtailed he said we got a
similar message from Wales also
non-urgent
outpatient day cases are being cancelled
inpatient cases and diagnostics and as I
said hospitals closing off wards but
we're also hearing about staff who are
concerned about having the right
equipment and the right protection and
worrying that they're not being trained
yet enough to protect themselves against
what is coming