March 29, 2021
18:29
–
Companies where telework is impossible can order free corona rapid tests from the federal government for their staff until May 1.
–
While our country is struggling with a new corona outbreak in hospitals, an update of the testing strategy is being worked on. Targeted testing, along with mass vaccination, should help tame the pandemic. In addition to the classic PCR test in the lab – with a daily capacity of 150,000 – two new options are added.
–
The essence
- Companies without the option to telecommute can order eight quick tests per employee free of charge until May 1.
- People can also buy self-tests privately from the pharmacy from April 6.
- For the time being, only the self-test of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is available.
- Anyone who feels ill or has had a high-risk contact should continue to test with a PCR test.
–
–
Companies and government services without an option to telework will receive federal assistance to preventively test their personnel. The rapid tests are administered by the company doctors and deliver results within 15 minutes. The advantage is that, unlike PCR tests, they no longer have to make a detour to a lab for a result. The tests are voluntary, employers cannot oblige their staff to take a test.
–
It is not new that the tests can be used. It has now been decided that the government will make its entire stock of 570,000 rapid tests – half a million more on the way – available free of charge until 1 May. The offer is valid while stocks last.
–
Eight free tests
Businesses and government departments can order two rapid tests per employee over the next four weeks – one test every three days is required to test properly. So eight free tests per employee in total. You can order through the company doctors. “69,000 have already been ordered, of which one in three by companies and two in three by government services,” said Corona Commissioner Pedro Facon.
–
69,000 rapid tests have already been ordered, of which one in three by companies and two in three by government services.
Pedro Facon
Coronacommissaris
–
–
–
The rapid tests have not been an unqualified success at the companies until now, partly due to the regulatory burden associated with registration. “Tomorrow the majority will submit a bill to cut administrative paperwork,” says Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit). Companies will only have to pass them positive tests to the government. The intention is that a PCR test will also be taken via the general practitioner or test centers – which is more sensitive and therefore provides certainty about contamination – and contact tracing can also begin.
–
Self-test in pharmacy
Also new is that from April 6 people can go to the pharmacy for a self-test. This is a variant of the rapid test that the consumer can take at home with a shallow nasal swab for himself or a family member. The self-test will also be reimbursed from 12 April to people who are less fortunate. This concerns the 2 million people who are entitled to the preferential health insurance scheme. They can buy two tests per week for a contribution of 1 euro per member of the family.
–
Two million less well-off people can buy self-tests for 1 euro.
–
The rest of the population pays the full price. The purchase price of a self-test for pharmacies now fluctuates between 2 and 5 euros, but there are therefore additional costs to determine the price in the pharmacy. The final price for the consumer will be 5 to 10 euros.
–
There will not be a great abundance in pharmacies from next week. The federal medicine watchdog has only authorized one self-test for the Belgian market, that of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. A lot of other companies will submit files quickly, says Vandenbroucke. In a first phase, the government only allows sales through pharmacies because pharmacists have to give people guidelines on how to properly take the test. “After four weeks, we evaluate and see whether we allow sales to other channels,” says Vandenbroucke. In Germany, the self-tests are available through supermarkets.
–
Serious leaflet
There is a serious package insert attached to the rapid and self-tests. They can help to tame the pandemic, but they are not the ultimate solution, it said. Vandenbroucke in no way called it an entrance ticket to let go of all brakes. As appropriate examples, he cites people who want to guide an older person or restaurateurs who want to convince customers that they are not contagious in their business. But just doing a self-test before going to a restaurant or a concert is explicitly not the intention.
–
Professor Herman Goossens – the head of our Belgian test strategy – states that rapid and self-tests are good against super spread. Yet they are only 80 percent reliable. It means that the test – which is less sensitive than the classic PCR test – misses positive cases and sometimes falsely identifies a healthy person as infected. In cold or hot weather, the tests do not really perform properly anymore.
–
–
