Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the article in the British Medical Journal entitled, Covid-19: Timing is critical for antibody tests, published on 25th June 2020, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government's antibody testing strategy.

Antibody testing is a key part of the Government’s testing programme and will play an increasingly important role as we move into the next phase of responding to COVID-19. On 21 May the Government announced plans for a national roll-out of antibody testing in the National Health Service and care sector.

Although we do not yet know whether antibodies indicate immunity from reinfection or transmission, antibody tests are helping us better understand how COVID-19 is spreading across the country.