COVID-19 testing

COVID-19 testing can help find the SARS-CoV-2 virus. There are two types of test; one can find the virus (i.e. Polymerase chain reaction, also called PCR) and the other that can find antibodies produced in response to infection.

An accurate mortality rate of the disease and the level of herd immunity in the population can be found from the results of these tests. However, it is still not known how long immunity will last, and how effective it will be.^[1]

Due to limited testing, as of March 2020, no countries had reliable data of the virus.^[2]

↑ Abbasi, Jennifer (17 April 2020). "The Promise and Peril of Antibody Testing for COVID-19". JAMA. 323 (19). JAMA Network: 1881–1883. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6170. PMID 32301958. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
↑ Ioannidis, John P.A. (17 March 2020). "A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data". STAT. Retrieved 22 March 2020.

[JAMA_anibody-1] Abbasi, Jennifer (17 April 2020). "The Promise and Peril of Antibody Testing for COVID-19". JAMA. 323 (19). JAMA Network: 1881–1883. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6170. PMID 32301958. Retrieved 20 April 2020.

[2] Ioannidis, John P.A. (17 March 2020). "A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data". STAT. Retrieved 22 March 2020.

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