UK tests reveal 17 per cent of Londoners have COVID-19 antibodies

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock says results of a government antibody surveillance study suggest that 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent of the rest of the country have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

He said Thursday that the government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody tests from Roche and Abbott. The tests will start to be rolled out next week, starting with health care workers, patients and nursing home residents.

He also said that the government is trialing a new, faster swab test that would tell people if they currently have the coronavirus. The new test would return results in 20 minutes.

Official figures show that the death toll involving those tested positive for COVID-19 in Britain has reached 36,042, an increase of 338 from the previous day's figures.