Australian scientists have developed a blood test that will be able to detect who is immune to coronavirus and who will develop mild or serious forms of the illness.

The Melbourne researchers at Monash University and Alfred Health are repurposing technology they recently developed to test for immunity to allergens and influenza.

The team have developed markers for the memory B cells formed after coronavirus infection.

By binding these markers to a fluorescent label, they will be able to determine the number of cells in a coronavirus patient to assess their immune status.