Israel is pushing for a large-scale examination of the new coronavirus infection (COVID 19) antibody against the general population.
Israel’s health authorities will carry out the COVID 19 antibody diagnostic test project with a total of 100,000 people at designated medical institutions nationwide from a week or two later.
Authorities also plan to conduct a COVID 19 antibody test with consent among people undergoing blood tests at medical institutions.
It will test more densely in areas where many medical workers or confirmed patients have occurred.
For a large-scale inspection project, Israel purchased 2.4 million U.S. avat-Ravatoris and Italian diasorin antibody diagnostic reagents for nearly $40 million (about 50 billion won) after receiving emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
COVID 19 antibody tests detect immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG), which are antibodies formed by the body’s immune response.
Blood from a person who is currently infected or has recovered from infection indicates positive in antibody tests.
Israel’s health authorities plan to identify the percentage of people exposed to COVID 19 out of the total population through large-scale antibody tests and use them as evidence to gauge the possibility of “collective immunity” and the size of the “second wave” to come this fall.