At the end of this year, the Netherlands will have a robot that analyzes corona tests and thus provides the results of the test. André van der Zande, the chairman of the National Coordination Structure Test Capacity, said this on Wednesday during a technical briefing in the House of Representatives.
The robot will be able to analyze 20,000 PCR tests per day during January. These are the regular tests that are still largely used in the test streets.
The first robot will be placed in Veldhoven. The Netherlands has ordered four more robots; they will arrive next year. These devices can therefore give the results of a total of 100,000 tests per day.
According to Van der Zande, Denmark also works “in this order of magnitude” with the test robots.
To the question of SP MP Maarten Hijink why the Netherlands will only get the first robot at the end of this year and why Denmark has had one for some time, Van der Zande was unable to give a clear answer. “Things might have been possible before, but I’m not going to do that. I’m glad we get them and think it’s a huge addition to the testing capacity.”
Minister wants ten million tests per month in March
Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the intention is that the testing capacity will be increased to ten million tests per month in March.
That would not only concern PCR tests, but also rapid tests, which can give the results faster.
According to the minister, a lot still needs to be done on the test capacity to get those numbers. In order to be able to test more people in more places from 1 March, additional test collection providers and locations will have to be added, ”he writes.
Follow the latest developments around the coronavirus in us liveblog.
You should also know this about the virus:
–
–
–
– .
