The Game Changer

100%-accurate check can show who has had the virus. It could help millions return to work and ease the lockdown

- Ben Glaze, Mikey Smith And Oliver Milne

LONDON Walking to work at London Bridge

Hopes were last night growing that a new coronavirus antibody test could pave the way for an end to lockdown and a return to work for millions of Brits.

Health chiefs have approved a check developed by Swiss drugs giant Roche that is 100% accurate in detecting those who have had the disease, which may have given them immunity.

Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said frontline NHS and care workers will have first access to the checks, which are to be rolled out “in the days and weeks to come”.

And the potential “game-changer” came as scientists from Manchester University claimed more than 19million people may have already been infected and recovered.

Health experts at the University of Washington also predict the UK was on course to have its first day with no Covid-19 deaths on July 30 and the toll would dip below 100 by June 14.

A NEW HOPE Antibody test at the Roche lab

But it was revealed that of the 233,151 people who have tested positive in the UK since the outbreak began, around 148,000 were found to have had the virus in the last two weeks – during the lockdown.

As the recorded death rate yesterday rose by 428 to 33,614, UK Coronavirus Testing Programme national co-ordinator Professor John Newton said: “This is a very positive development because such a highly specific antibody test is a very reliable marker of past infection.

“This in turn may indicate some immunity to future infection, although the extent to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains unclear.”

THE TUBE Commuters packed into train