Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare next month to carry out large-scale antibody test Tokyo, Osaka, Miyagi May 15 5:06
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will start a large-scale test at three locations in Tokyo, Osaka, and Miyagi from next month on an antibody test to check whether it has been infected with the new coronavirus, and it will be useful for grasping the infection status and put it into practical use. I will proceed.
The antibody test checks whether or not there is a protein called "antibody" in the blood that is formed after infection with a virus, and you can see if you have been infected.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been conducting a trial test since last month to examine the performance of the test kit, but decided to start a larger test at three locations in Tokyo, Osaka and Miyagi prefectures from next month. It was.
Randomly extracting about 3000 people each and seeking cooperation, we will investigate the spread of the infection situation in the area and the possibility of “collective immunity” where many people have antibodies and the infection does not spread is.
Antibody tests are widely conducted overseas, and university research groups have already begun in Japan, but this is the first large-scale test conducted by the national government.
It is effective for grasping the overall picture of the infection situation, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will proceed with its practical application by combining it with PCR tests and antigen tests.