Rush after virus test in Skåne: capacity has now been increased

Self-Assessment Kits are picked up at pharmacies, but you must make an appointment.Image: Skåne region

The response was so good that many find it difficult to have time at the pharmacy to pick up a test kit.

To obtain the necessary equipment for sampling, you must make an appointment at one of the 44 Scanian pharmacies currently connected to the service through the service site 1177.se.

The test must taken within 72 hours of the onset of infection symptoms. This is when you have high levels of the virus in your upper respiratory tract.

Therefore, the withdrawal period for a test kit should not exceed three days. But many have contacted both the newspaper and the Skåne Region after being forced to wait four or five days to be assessed.

– I fully understand the frustration many Scans express at not being able to get a test kit quickly, says now Pia Lundbom, director of health and medical care.

In the middle of This week, three pharmacies in Malmö and one in Helsingborg will be added to the system, providing an additional 200 bookings per day, the Skåne Region announced on Monday.

– But we are seeing how we can further expand the testing capacity. Hopefully we can find additional ways to offer testing, Pia Lundbom says in a press release.

The newspaper has mapped the waiting time in all Skåne pharmacies that are connected to the service.

All but three could offer collection of a test kit in 72 hours, let alone by a narrow margin.

At the Osby, Perstorp and Sjöbo pharmacies, the sampling equipment could already be received after 48 hours, something that should always be done through a representative.

At three Scanian pharmacies, the waiting time was four days: the Swan in Lund and the pharmacies in Emporia and Mobilia in Malmö.