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Coronavirus pandemic

Russian scientists working on coronavirus immunity skin test, set for release in autumn

It will come in handy for probing into post-infection and post-vaccination immunity and also to select people for vaccination

Sanitary watchdog chief Anna Popova Alexander Astafyev/POOL/TASS

Sanitary watchdog chief Anna Popova

© Alexander Astafyev/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. Russia’s consumer rights watchdog is working on a skin test, which, its scientists say, will not require drawing blood from an individual’s veins to find out if the person in question is immune against the coronavirus, the watchdog’s chief Anna Popova said on Monday. She hopes the test will be available in the autumn.

"Our colleagues at St. Petersburg’s Pasteur Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology have come up with an idea for a universal test - a skin test - which in some respects may be identical to the diaskin test (for tuberculosis - TASS). The test’s developers have volunteered to try it on themselves and the results don’t look bad at all… We have already begun pre-clinical research and remain hopeful we will have this universal instrument at our disposal once autumn rolls around," Popova said at a general meeting of the medical branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Popova said that all of Russia’s existing tests required drawing blood from an individual’s veins, while the yet-to-be developed method could be easily used even in little children.

The method will be meant for massive, quick and low-cost testing of specific cell immunity against the coronavirus. No special equipment is needed. It will come in handy for probing into post-infection and post-vaccination immunity and also to select people for vaccination.

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Maria Berlinskaya emphasized that the real effectiveness was determined in real combat conditions, and not at "some training ground in Texas"

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Confiscation of Russian assets by the US to affect Europe more — expert

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Armenia purchasing only defensive weapons — PM

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