Coronavirus: 'Children of the 90s' team to study exposure in young people

5,000 participants will receive an antibody testing kit to take at home

A testing programme has begun to help understand how many people in a long-term health study have had Covid-19.

More than 5,000 participants in the Children of the 90s project at the University of Bristol, will get an antibody testing kit to take at home.

Prof Nic Timpson said it will assess how many people are likely to have already had an asymptomatic infection.

A separate study will also look to identify the impact the pandemic has had on anxiety levels in young people.

"Throughout 2020, Children of the 90s has been undertaking research efforts to understand the impact of Covid-19 and the measures used to control it." said Prof Timpson.

"Testing in this way is important as so many young people are asymptomatic when they have the virus."

The study will also look at the social effects of lockdown.

Prof Timpson said: "Our participant questionnaires have allowed us to identify rises in anxiety in young people - only seen in comparison to our pre-Covid-19 data."

Participant Charly Andrews said she is "proud" to be part of the project

Participant Rachel Avery, said: "I've always enjoyed being part of the Children of the 90s, knowing that I am contributing to important scientific research.

"When offered the chance to partake in the Covid-19 antibody research, I was very happy to be involved. Anything we can do to learn more about this virus is taking us one step closer to normality."

Fellow participant Charly Andrews said it made her feel "proud" to be part of the project.

She said: "The impact of their Covid-19 research has already been huge, so anything that this can do to help with the virus is good."