The good news that emerged from Boris’s coronavirus press conference

Today was Boris Johnson’s first press conference since announcing that people would only be allowed to leave their homes for a small number of state-sanctioned activities. But in a sign of how fast this crisis is moving, there were few questions on this. Instead, the focus was on testing and why the UK hasn’t managed to ramp it up yet.

The government is most excited about the idea of an antibody test that would show who has had the virus. This would transform the situation: it would mean that NHS staff who had had coronavirus could carry on working even if they had symptoms, it would mean we would know who could volunteer without taking any risk with their own health and it would enable those who have had it to resume something approaching normal life. 

In evidence to the Science and Technology committee today, the director of the National Infection Service suggested that these tests would be available in days and that people would be able to order them from Amazon.