The proportion of the public testing positive for antibodies fell from six per cent to 4.4 per cent in three months, according to a major study commissioned in England by the Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus immunity could only last a few months after a study revealed a decline in protective antibodies.

Research by Imperial College London estimated just 4.4% of adults had some form of immunity against Covid-19 in September, when cases began to increase again.

This is compared with 6% found to have antibodies between June 20 and July 13, and 4.8% between July 31 and August 31.

The number of people with antibodies fell by 26.5 per cent over three months, according to research commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The study involved more than 365,000 randomly selected adults in England who used finger prick antibody tests at home.

Between 20 June and 28 September, the proportion of people who tested positive for antibodies dropped from six per cent of the population to 4.4 per cent.