Healthcare personnel with corona complaints can get a quick test at work from the end of this month and no longer need to go to a test street of the GGD. At the beginning of next month, this will also apply to staff from schools, childcare and the police.
Minister De Jonge will announce more details about the scheme tomorrow morning. It was previously clear that he was working on an order option for rapid tests for healthcare institutions, but that is therefore being expanded to other sectors.
Healthcare institutions must order the tests themselves from the National Medical Aid Consortium. That authority now also distributes all medical mouth masks, aprons, gloves and other protective equipment.
In any case, only rapid tests can be ordered that have been validated by the RIVM. The tests provide a definite answer within 30 minutes of infection with the corona virus.
Canteen
It is still being investigated exactly how the administration will take place at schools and at the police, for example about the exact location. For example, it can be done in the canteen by company doctors.
‘On-site rapid tests’ are started at hospitals and nursing homes because of the importance of a quick result. Staff can immediately return to work if the result is negative.
For everyone
Also for people with complaints who do not work in one of the above professional groups, it will be possible to get a rapid test at the end of November or the beginning of December. Decrease will happen in the seven to ten new XL test locations and in 20 to 25 dedicated rapid test lanes. Some of these will come at existing GGD test locations.
You can make an appointment for a quick test via the normal telephone number of the GGD (0800-1202) or via coronatest.nl. It is still unclear whether a quick test can be chosen or whether it will be assigned automatically.
The Department of Health has ordered four million rapid tests from suppliers BD and Abbott for this month. The RIVM has validated these tests and the Outbreak Management Team considers them reliable enough to be deployed in the Netherlands. The rapid tests are slightly less accurate than the regular PCR test, but the OMT thinks that outweighs the speed.
BD and Abbott will deliver another four million units in December and again in January. Millions will be added every month until June. A validated quick test has also already been ordered from manufacturer Roche, but the company does not say how many pieces it concerns.
A quick test of the company Meridian Bioscience has not yet been validated, but is well in the process. The ministry has not yet ordered that test. The company says it can deliver 12 million rapid tests over the next six months if desired.
Fine
In any case, the ministry seems to have learned from the shortages that arose this spring and autumn in the laboratories that perform the regular PCR test. At the time, it turned out that far too little test material was available, which led to a waiting time for a test at the GGD, which sometimes amounted to more than four days.
In the tender documents for rapid tests, it says that the ministry will now only work with suppliers who can deliver at least one million rapid tests per month for six months.
A supplier is also fined if a batch of rapid tests cannot be delivered. The fine is 0.1 percent of the total order amount per day up to a maximum of 10 percent. This amounts to an amount of millions.
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