In the government’s swab plan, a single rapid test for flu and Covid

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Not only doubling and tripling the swabs that on Wednesday surpassed 100,000 for the first time, reaching – an absolute record – the never-before-reached figure of 102,959 exams in a single day. But to add more and more to the traditional buffers also the fast ones tested today in airports, ports and stations that in the coming days will have to obtain an official validation by the Higher Institute of Health, debuting in the coming weeks a new multitest. fast in able to identify positivity to virus covid or influenza. A tool, the latter, that could be crucial to try to make more secure diagnoses in the face of the arrival of flu syndromes that last year affected almost 8 million Italians and that very often present the same symptoms as Covid.

For this reason, the plan of the Government and the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza for the fall is taking shape more and more when the perfect storm could explode with the forced coexistence between flu and Covid with the risk of unleashing the traffic jam in the emergency rooms and medical clinics. Hence the effort to try to increase the firepower in tests in the coming weeks, including swabs and rapid exams, as well as the increase in doses of the flu vaccine (this year it went from 10 million to 17 million). A maxi-plan of at least 30 million swabs – see Sole 24 Ore yesterday – judged “plausible” by Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri yesterday on 24Mattino on Radio24. “It is a number close to reality. But we must monitor – continued Sileri – because this is the only way we can predict what may happen, we just have to be prepared. As for the amount of daily tampons, according to Sileri “they will be made with judgment, where they are needed there will be peaks of 300 thousand or even 400 thousand, but it will not be a constant, until April June when the vaccine will be ready.” There is also room for serological tests distributed by general practitioners: “In the future we will need a surveillance campaign superior to that of today,” explained the deputy minister. Regarding the still insufficient influenza vaccines, he then announced: “We are ready to buy new doses.”

Yesterday Minister Speranza during the information on the Covid emergency confirmed that tomorrow he will present to the EU Health Ministers his proposal to provide tests and swabs at all large European airports that will be carried out on departure or arrival according to a reciprocity mechanism : “If we do not want to risk a further reduction in mobility between countries, the idea of ​​conducting tests at the main airports of the continent seems right to us,” explained Speranza. Who yesterday reiterated that the “absolute priority” is now the reopening of schools in September. And to facilitate this long-awaited return every day + «11 million surgical masks will be distributed to students and school personnel. We are the only country in Europe and the world that does it. Infime, the Minister of Health always yesterday in Parliament reiterated in Parliament the acceleration of the vaccine for Covid: “In the last hours the contract between the European Commission and Astrazeneca has been finalized”, in which “it is written that the first doses, if the vaccine is confirmed to be safe, will already be available by the end of 2020 ”.

Meanwhile, yesterday the Interior Ministry announced the distribution from Friday of 15 million masks for the seats with a view to the vote on September 20-21.