Last night the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first antibody test kits for the virus.
They look for the molecules created by the white cells in our blood as our bodies fight infection.
But Ireland's deputy chief medical officer Ronan Glynn says antibody tests aren't part of the plan here at this point.
He says officials are aiming to find cases much sooner.
"Testing for antibodies is essentially a test of immunity, so it shows if someone had the disease in the past.
"The earliest stage at which antibodies increase in the bloody typically is 9 days,
"So they're really not a good measure of current infection, and they're not a good test when it comes to the reason why we're testing, which is to identify cases early and contact trace."
