In a few months, 400,000 tests should be available daily to give people a test certificate on the CoronaCheck app, says Corona Minister Hugo de Jonge in The Telegraph. This should not only improve the detection and tracing of the virus, but also make it safer to go to events, for example.
“We no longer want to use tests only for detecting and tracing corona, but also for making social life, work and education safer again,” the newspaper quotes the minister.
The minister is enthusiastic about the app, which he says has been working on for some time. In the beginning, the cabinet wants to make limited use of the test certificates. “Events, the cultural sector and sports competitions are the most logical sectors where you would want to get started with access tests.”
The test certificate does not seem to be used for shops, restaurants and office work. “For the retail trade and catering industry, you will try to take more steps in the coming months to make things possible again without an access test (..) With access tests we make things possible that would otherwise not have been possible,” the minister said.
Test certificate valid for two days
A test certificate should be valid for 48 hours. According to De Jonge, the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) had advised that it should only be valid for 24 hours, but according to him that is impractical. “I understand purely epidemiologically, but 48 hours is more manageable in practical terms.”
In the somewhat longer term, self-tests will also become available, which may even be available at the supermarket The Telegraph. “It will take a while, but I cannot rule out the possibility that it will be the case in a few months,” says De Jonge.
A spokesman for the minister tells the ANP that at the beginning of March 25,000 tests will be available for tests that contribute to opening up the society. For the time being, they are being used for field lab experiments. More testing in ‘real’ life has yet to be decided, he emphasizes, “but it looks like”.
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