This is a first since November. During the week of January 10 to 16, 2022, 11,308,800 PCR and antigen tests were validated, compared to 12,088,200 the previous week, reports the DREES (Direction de la Recherche, des Etudes, de l’Evaluation et des Statistiques ) this Thursday. This represents a decrease of 6.4%.
Since the start of the fifth wave, the number of screenings carried out each week has only increased, boosted by the arrival of Omicron, the end-of-year celebrations, but also the various announcements related to the past. sanitary.
Slightly shorter lead times
At the very beginning of January, it was the start of the new school year and its strict health protocol – three tests per student a few days apart in the event of contamination in the class – which had boosted the number of screenings. “The record volume of daily tests was reached on January 10 with more than 2,280,000 validated tests,” said Drees.
But the relaxation of the protocol at the school, which now authorizes self-tests instead of PCR or antigen tests for students, on January 10, has reduced “from mid-January” the number of screenings carried out each week. in children under 16 years old.
The result of this first decline since November is that the test validation time has shortened slightly.