Sample testing will help to determine immunity.

Sample testing will help to determine immunity. | Miquel À. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma15/04/2020 11:34
TW
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The regional health minister, Patricia Gómez, says that, for now, there will not be mass testing for coronavirus. There is, she explains, a "new technique" that the health service will have available in three to four weeks' time.

Meanwhile, there is to be a "zero prevalence" study. This will involve a representative sample of the population, "like a survey before an election". Dr. Javier Arranz, the coronavirus committee spokesperson, says that results from this will show "how the virus is distributed among the population". These will help to determine immunity and how quickly there can be a return to normality.

At present, the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique is the most reliable. Testing for antibodies, notes Dr. Arranz, is "very easy but needs defences to be built in", while a third - for antigens - was one "we thought would go well, but unfortunately the test that the (national) ministry made was a disaster and could not be applied".

"We are dealing with a recent disease for which we do not have the diagnostic tools. We cannot go faster than science or the evidence, as you can do things wrongly."