Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health, Welfare and Sport) wants to facilitate frequent and preventive testing of employees who have no complaints and who are not known to have been exposed to the virus, the national government reports. To stimulate this, the cabinet wants to temporarily support companies that want to have their employees tested preventively and, if necessary, frequently in situations where working from home is not an option. In the long term, the use of self-tests offers prospects.
Until now, it was only possible for employers to have employees tested with complaints or known exposure (through contact with an infected person, a report by the CoronaMelder app or from a risk area). The GGDs now have sufficient capacity to perform these tests. The scheme to support employers in this will therefore end on 19 March 2021.
New regulations
Instead, a new scheme will be introduced that provides employers with financial support to preventively and frequently test their employees without complaints under medical supervision. The support applies to so-called ‘guided self-assessment’ and for the self-testing of employees, at the request of their employer, under the supervision of a BIG-registered doctor or health and safety service. Incidentally, an employer may never oblige employees to take a test.
The ultimate perspective is the use of self-tests to enable safer working and, for example, study. However, no self-tests are available on the market at this time. On 5 March last, the Ministry opened the possibility for providers to market rapid tests as a self-test by means of an exemption. The first self-tests are expected to be available in April.
Preventive testing of people without symptoms and without known exposure can help detect contamination early and prevent outbreak situations. In addition, employers can provide their employees with a safer work environment through preventive testing. Working from home is and remains the norm. The support is therefore aimed at employers whose employees, due to the nature of their work, do not have any opportunity to work from home and are – through no fault of their own – in work situations where 1.5 meters is difficult to maintain.
Source: Central government
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