From Monday you can also go to more than 1,000 of the approximately 4,800 pharmacies in our country for a negative corona test, for example to leave on a trip.
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In concrete terms, pharmacists will be allowed to take rapid antigen tests in humans from Monday. Fifteen minutes later you know the results of the test, which costs about 25 to 30 euros, and is also accepted in several European countries as an alternative to the (more expensive) PCR test.
The General Pharmaceutical Association (APB) emphasizes that this will significantly increase Belgian testing capacity. ‘If every pharmacist takes ten tests a day, we will increase the testing capacity by no less than 10,000 tests a day,’ says APB chairman Koen Straetmans. That could ease the pressure on, among other things, general practitioners and test centers.
Pharmacists who offer the rapid antigen test from Monday – which, as with a PCR test, require a deep sample in the nose – have received special training for this. The results of the test are officially registered through the Sciensano health institute.
The pharmacists’ union urges patients who leave on a trip to check carefully whether the country of their travel destination accepts a rapid antigen test and under what conditions. ‘That remains the responsibility of the citizen.’
Kama moves: traveling in times of corona
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