No evidence that antibody tests can show coronavirus immunity, WHO warns

The World Health Organization issued a warning about coronavirus antibodies testing, saying there’s no evidence serological tests can show whether a person has immunity or is no longer at risk of becoming reinfected.

“These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of serology presence, that level of antibodies, but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies” is immune, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit.

So-called serological, or antibody, tests can indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 in the past and was either asymptomatic or recovery

Kerkhove said WHO officials discovered many countries suggesting these tests would be able to “capture what they think will be a measure of immunity.”

“What the use of these tests will do will measure the level of antibodies. It’s a response that the body has a week or two later after they’ve been infected with this virus,” she said at a news conference at WHO’s Geneva headquarters. “Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual is immune or protected from reinfection.”