Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) Study

Imperial College London is leading a major programme of home testing for COVID-19 to track the progress of the infection across England. Called REACT, the programme was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care, and is being carried out in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Ipsos MORI.
Find out more about REACT and read findings from the programme using the links below.
Findings and announcement
2 column colour block - FAQs and glossary
REACT 1 study materials
Find out more about antibody testing and REACT

How Imperial is using antibody testing to track the outbreak
Scientists explain antibody testing work to track the spread of COVID-19 in the UK
Researchers at Imperial College London have been working with clinicians at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust on a programme of work to develop a ‘gold standard’ antibody test that can be used widely to track rates of coronavirus infections in the UK’s population.

Assessing antibody tests for use in the community
Find out how REACT is assessing different antibody tests for accuracy and ease of use at home
Professor Helen Ward, Professor of Public Health at Imperial College London, talks about her involvement in the REACT study to assess a range of different antibody tests for their accuracy against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and how easily people can use them at home.

Developing effective antibody tests for COVID-19
Prof Graham Taylor walks through what's involved in developing and assessing antibody tests
Professor Graham Taylor, Professor of Human Retrovirology in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, is part of a team carrying out antibody testing to assess if a person has previously been infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. At the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) COVID-19 webinar series, he talked us through how teams at St Mary’s Hospital and North West London Pathology based at Charing Cross Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, were performing developing and testing antibody tests to inform a nationwide study.

Q&A with the REACT team
REACT researchers Dr Atchison and Prof Barclay host a public Q&A session on antibody testing
Dr Christina Atchison and Professor Wendy Barclay gave a live Q&A session on 22 July to share all things testing, from why antibody testing is helping our response to the outbreak, to why it's too soon to rely on them to change our behaviour. They responded to questions posed by a live online audience.