As the outbreak’s original epicenter and the only major country at a mature enough stage of its epidemic to start concertedly looking back, China’s serological effort will be closely tracked by the global scientific community.
In Wuhan, investigators are blood testing a random group of 11,000 people who lived in the city for no less than two weeks between January and March.
Those participating in the survey, which includes all members of chosen households and people like police officers, community workers and taxi drivers, take tests for the virus and for antibodies generated to fight it, according to local newspaper Hubei Daily.
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In an interview with state news agency Xinhua in mid-January, Wang Chen, the dean of Peking Union Medical College, described a serological survey as “the most pressing task” for the country, because it will help policymakers figure out if the coronavirus will disappear like SARS did 17 years ago, or is here to stay like the flu.
Another challenge lies in the antibody test employed. Western biotech companies have launched tests that have been found to be inaccurate after countries had ordered millions.
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This difficulty in differentiating antibodies is what’s stopping South Korea, which has also shown success in curbing its outbreak, from kicking off its serological survey. The country’s CDC told Bloomberg it is testing whether certain antibodies are reacting only to the new virus, and not others.
The agency won’t initiate a serological survey until researchers have verified the antibody test’s specificity, it said.
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