From this Tuesday April 6, the rapid tests will be available for sale in pharmacies in Belgium. These rapid tests do not require the assistance of a doctor and can be done on your own. Pharmacists are of course there to explain to their customers how to use them correctly and what to do if the result is positive.
These tests are a product that many have been waiting for. Faced with this observation, the Belgian Pharmaceutical Association (APB) warns the Belgians: it is useless to storm pharmacies.
“It is likely that deliveries will start tomorrow during the day. Rapid tests will be available from Tuesday and over the next few days, but the message is clear: ‘Do not wait at the door of your pharmacy at 9 am tomorrow’ “, explains George Verpraet of the APB to our colleagues at the VRT: George Verpraet is indeed worried that some people will build up a stock of rapid tests or there will not be enough for everyone. “We will be careful at first when people ask for large quantities. We want and can avoid storage phenomena, ”he continues.
Remember that the results of these tests are less reliable than PCR tests, since the swab here is smaller and therefore goes less deep into the nose. However, these are mainly intended for healthy and asymptomatic people and will greatly facilitate large-scale testing to contain the pandemic. Their selling price will vary between 7 and 8 euros.
27,000 self-tests per week for Flemish civil servants
Flemish officials will have 27,000 self-tests for the coronavirus each week, Flemish Minister Bart Somers (Open-Vld) said on Monday. The latter also launched a public market to allow municipal administrations in the north of the country to acquire self-tests for their own agents.
They should have 51,000 a week in total.
The government intends to supplement the coronavirus screening strategy with self-tests, in addition to the PCR tests and rapid tests already carried out currently.