On Tuesday, the Kaufland retail chain also started selling domestic speed tests. “The quantity sold is in the thousands,” spokeswoman Renata Maierl told Práva. On the Pilulka.cz website, there is the greatest interest in the V-chek lollipop test.
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“To date, we have sold almost 9,000 packages of these tests,” Kateřina Schotliová, a spokeswoman for Práva, told Práva yesterday. The test is sold in packs of twenty pieces, so customers bought 180,000 of them.
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Price from 109 CZK
“Since the beginning of March, we have been on some 25,000 packages, and it would certainly be even more if there were no supply outages,” confirmed pharmacy spokesman Dr. Max Michal Petrov. The sharp growth in interest was illustrated by sales numbers. “While in December in pharmacies Dr. Max sold 300 tests, in January it was about two thousand packages and in February almost 18 thousand, “said Petrov.
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According to him, customers most often order packages of 20 or 25 pieces, so they bought several hundred thousand tests in March.
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The Lékárna.cz e-shop also received huge interest. “We have only been offering the saliva rapid test for covid-19 since Friday, and we have sold more than 20,000 pieces,” said the company’s founder Vladimír Finsterle.
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| How does it work |
| Nasal swab – The sample is taken with a brush from both nostrils at a depth of about 2 centimeters. The result is available in 15 to 20 minutes. The price is from 109 CZK. |
| Lollipop test – The swab is placed in the mouth for 90 seconds, then placed in the test cassette and the result is in 15 minutes. Sold from 185 CZK per piece, so far only in larger packages. |
| Kloktací test – It was developed by scientists from the Medical Faculty of UP in Olomouc with the companies Aumed and IntellMed. He gargles with his head tilted for 30 seconds, then spits into a test tube and sends to the laboratory. The accuracy is similar to the PCR test, price from 1399 CZK. |
| Mucus and saliva test – Take a sample of the mucus coughed into the test tube with the stick, result in 15 minutes. Price around 140 CZK. |
| Power test – Place the tube in the container with the urine collected, the result is after a minute. Price 349 CZK. |
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Manufacturers report the sensitivity and specificity of tests over 90 percent. Both data indicate how accurate the tests are. Sensitivity indicates the probability that a test will be considered positive if the test subject is infected. Specificity indicates the probability that the test will be negative in a person who is not infected. Many experts point out that the tests do not always detect an infected person without symptoms, so it is better to repeat them more often.
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There are several types of tests on sale. The greatest interest is in the so-called lollipop test and nose test. The lollipop test is performed on saliva and costs 185 to 190 CZK. However, it is currently only sold in packs of 20 pieces. The reported sensitivity is over 95 percent and the specificity over 98 percent.
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The nose test at a depth of about two centimeters is sold from CZK 109 when buying a package of 25 pieces. However, they can also be purchased individually for around CZK 150. Kaufland also sells for so much. Sensitivity is reported to be around 95 percent and specificity up to 100 percent. There are also gargling tests, “spitting” tests from mucus and saliva, as well as tests from urine.
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Companies only marginally
Test prices drop with the quantity purchased, so companies, for example, can save even more when buying thousands of tests at once. However, the vast majority of tests in pharmacies and shops are bought by citizens, companies order mostly elsewhere.
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“Eighty percent of the pieces sold went to households, 20 percent to companies. The purchase on the website is limited to 20 pieces. But we have met and will continue to meet the demand of companies, you just need to arrange an order through the customer center, “said Finsterle. Also Dr. So far, Max has preferred the interests of individual clients and has so far had only marginal supplies to legal entities.
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