Covid-19

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iHomeCare provide antibody tests for coronavirus (Covid-19).

Accurate, reliable results in 10 minutes.

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What sort of tests are they?

Our tests establish if you have ever had Covid-19 by identifying the immune cells you produce in response to the virus, known as antibodies. They are different from the swab test you get to confirm if you have symptoms of the virus and are acutely unwell with Covid-19.

Our tests require a small, finger prick blood sample, similar to those used for diabetic blood-glucose tests, and you get the result in 10 minutes. The test is carried out by a registered healthcare professional to ensure a standardised approach and they will visit you at home or at your workplace.

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How accurate are these tests?

In a series of trials carried out at Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital in London, the tests were shown to accurately diagnose negative results (a metric known as specificity) 100 per cent of the time and accurately diagnose positive results 100 percent of the time 14-20 days after the person had a positive Covid-19 result in their swab test. (Please see the link to St Thomas & Guys NHS trust white paper below)

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Are they government approved?

To clarify, the tests we use are yet to be approved by the UK government as one of their official testing products, but this is likely to be related to the mode of testing. These are home tests, with immediate results, rather than tests in which samples must be sent to a lab for processing. This means the person being tested is asked to complete the test and interpret the result themselves, which might explain why the government is yet to approve this sort of test for use in the home  for the  general public, without the assistance of a medical practitioner.

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Does a positive test guarantee immunity?

As with any Covid-19 test, a positive does not guarantee immunity. It confirms that the person has been infected with the virus at some point in the past and currently has antibodies in their system. Covid-19 is a novel virus and scientists are still working to understand how long the antibodies last and the extent to which they confer immunity.   This is the current position of the World Health organisation.  Any person that receives  a positive antibody test should continue to comply with social distancing measures and up to date government guidelines to ensure the safety of themselves and others.

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How much do they cost? 

Costing is based on the number of individuals that requesting test at each clinic session.

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How can I arrange my test?

Email: info@ihomecare.co or call directly 02037199784

 

Kind regards,

Neil Higgins

Managing Director, iHomeCare

 

We thank the researchers and clinicians from King’s College London and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospital and anyone helping or supporting this work. For the full study please visit:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.02.20120345v1.full.pdf