From the first days of May, all students, teachers, non-teaching staff and U.Porto researchers who need to resume face-to-face activities on the institution’s premises will be able to undergo, free of charge, a serological test that will allow the degree of exposure of each person to the new coronavirus to be gauged.
Resulting from a joint initiative of the Reitoria and the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP), carrying out these tests will allow the individual immune system of the members of the academic community to be known in relation to the new coronavirus. This could also be a first step to develop later a study of the level of immunity of the Portuguese population.
The serological tests detect antibodies produced in response to contact with the new coronavirus, even if they have not manifested symptoms of the disease. The tests require only the collection of a few drops of blood, through a finger prick, much like the glucose tests that diabetic patients undergo regularly.
In the next few days, ISPUP will start gauging all the necessary procedures to make the tests available for the academic community. After this stage, locations will be identified in the various buildings of the University of Porto where it will be possible, from May, for members of the academic community to carry out their serological test.
