DIY swabs, the first tests in Veneto- Corriere.it

«Starting Monday we will experience five thousand do it yourself try»Announces the President of Veneto Luca zaia and the horizon is that of a Copernican revolution of the sanitary machinery that, in recent weeks, has been under pressure to say the least. Did you see yesterday that Professor Guerra from the WHO said “I have already seen the first DIY tests that will be distributed in pharmacies”? – says Zaia – Well, when we said it they gave us naivety. Now that you say it The OMS I hope someone takes us seriously.
The novelty is important because, while it works, «with an expense of a few euros, the plan also changes health care»Zaia says. In fact, with theself-administration of the test, at least partially alleviates the burden (and costs) of health testing. The announcement came yesterday, the day the record for tampons made in Veneto in 24 hours was reached: 53,289.
Ranieri Guerra, guest on «Otto e Mezzo», described them as follows: «Similar to a test of the pregnancy, the first self-administered single-use kits will be in pharmacies. ‘

In Veneto, managing the latest in a long list of experiments, from homemade reagents for swabs when there were no reagents to “quick swabs”, is once again Roberto Rigoli, director of the Microbiology and Virology Unit of Treviso. “This is a swab from the pits nasal – explains – and then put in the reagent container. Experimentation will happen in double– Each DIY test will be validated by a molecular swab. To expand experimentation, we are considering working with many of the microbiology Veneto, four or five, to have a large number of tests and more centers involved. They are parameters that greatly increase the reliability of the experimentation that will then be presented to the ISS for validation.

But what do you do after inserting the swab into the reagent container and getting the result? The application opens biosorvegliance “Zero Covid Veneto” (approved two days ago by the Regional Council) and the result is reported in order to make it accessible to the regional health system. Finally, Rigoli announces another vanguard battle, which in different strains of the virus
“It happens, at midnight, – he explains – to go in person to rub the drive-in because it is very important to ask the subjects if symptomatic or not and where they come from. There are surely different strains of the virus and so many mutations: we hope to test it with the genetic sequence. With the Tre Venezie Prophylaxis Institute, the European reference center, we have agreed to send all the strains identified from February to today for sequencing.