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The coronavirus infection rate has been reduced by more than half as a result of the testing and quarantine campaign in Slovakia, the country’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic said at a press conference.
In Slovakia, 3.6 million people out of a population of 5.5 million were tested for coronavirus. The exceptions were young children and some older people. The massive test took place the first weekend of November. Those who were confirmed with Covid-19 were forced to self-quarantine. On the second weekend of the month, the test was repeated for 2 million people in the worst affected areas and, according to the authorities in Bratislava, the infection rate dropped significantly, Agerpres reports.
The campaign in Slovakia has been closely followed by other countries fighting a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 contamination cases. Taking into account the districts where the tests were conducted in both weeks, the infection rate dropped from 1.47% in the first weekend to 0.62% among those examined in the second weekend, Matovic said in Conference press.
If we take into account some complementary tests carried out in the police, in nursing homes and in companies, the second round showed 13,509 positive cases.
“We are entering a difficult winter. We have an extraordinarily effective antigen testing tool that reduces the proportion of infected people by 58%,” said the head of the Slovak government.
The test was free and voluntary, but the government imposed a quarantine, including a travel ban, for those who refused to take the test. People should have certificates from them that show they took the test and it came back negative. The campaign was based on antigen tests whose results are known in 15-30 minutes, but with less precision than standard PCR tests. The government has argued that antigen tests are worth doing and that repeating them reduces the likelihood of false negative results.
To date, Slovakia has reported 76,072 cases of infection, of which 366 deaths, detected by PCR testing. Antigen testing, which included a pilot stage and two rounds of massive testing, identified 57,462 cases.
Publisher: Adrian Dumitru
