The site where holidaymakers can request a free test continues to suffer from problems. The intention is that people will soon be able to schedule a test via several commercial providers. In a letter to the House of Representatives, Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen (Infrastructure and Water Management) wrote that today one test provider is linked to the site. Other parties will follow in the coming days.
The first provider is Coronasneltest Nederland with fourteen test locations, mainly in the west of the country. At the beginning of the evening it was not yet possible to make a test appointment. Now can an online appointment can be made.
The minister calls on holidaymakers to wait a little longer before making an appointment if they are not going to travel in the coming days. Van Nieuwenhuizen also writes to the House that it was a “challenge” for the commercial parties that will carry out the test to complete the connection to the systems, including the CoronaCheck app, on time. According to the minister, the connection is now being made “step by step”.
Phone appointment
Due to the problems, it was not possible today for people to schedule a test via the specially set up site, testvoorjereis.nl. However, an appointment could be made by phone at the GGD, it was “unbelievably busy there today”.
Until 4 p.m., the GGD has made more than 55,000 test appointments for travelers. It is possible that not everyone can go to the location of their choice, but there were enough test places according to the GGD. Every day, the GGD can handle 35,000 tests for travel, a total of more than 2.1 million tests in the two holiday months.
How many commercial
It remains unclear how many test companies will be connected to the system. This can be done until 14 July for technical reasons. As a result, it is not yet clear what the test capacity will be. The ministry expects a maximum of 3.5 million tests to be carried out this summer.
Initially, the cabinet did not want free travel tests, but there was a majority in the House of Representatives. That is why we only started setting up the test lines this month, which should be ready by tomorrow. Last Monday the contracts were signed with the commercial test providers.
–
