The World Health Organisation (WHO) has just cautioned against placing too much stock in antibody tests – they’re the tests to see if someone has already had the virus.
The first problem with antibody tests is there aren’t any that work, but even if they did there are potential issues.
There are no guarantees that if you have antibodies against the coronavirus that you are completely immune.
And even if your antibodies do protect you from becoming sick, then you may be able to harbour the virus in your body and pass it to others.
There will be many challenges before immunity passports, allowing you to resume life as normal if you pass an antibody test, will be practical.
This is the problem with a virus that has only been around for a couple of months – there is still too much we do not understand.
However, the main appeal of antibody testing is to find out how many people have really been infected with the virus.