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Give a result in 15 minutes: Zurich requires the federal government to recommend rapid tests for wide use as quickly as possible. But your exam still takes several weeks.
Airlines, tourism directors, retirement homes – many are pinning high hopes on the corona rapid tests. Despite the growing number of cases, they should allow almost normal daily life. The pharmaceutical company Roche, for example, promises a test result in 15 minutes. And in Germany, a new test strategy should go into effect next week. Starting October 15, nursing homes and hospitals will “generously” use so-called rapid antigen tests for staff, visitors, patients or residents.
Therefore, Zurich Health Director Natalie Rickli calls on the federal government to include rapid tests in its strategy as soon as possible. (Read here the interview with Natalie Rickli.) But in Switzerland, the official still applies: “Currently, rapid tests are not recommended for routine use.” So it is in the instructions of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG).
The reason: the validation of several tests by Swiss laboratories has not yet been completed. You need to show if the tests deliver what your providers promise. “We expect reliable results by the end of October,” the BAG writes on request.
The Swiss testing strategy will be reviewed in parallel with the validation under the leadership of the federal government,
announces conference of cantonal health directors. The BAG itself says: It is not yet possible to provide binding information on when rapid tests would be part of the testing strategy.
Regarding the strategy for the future, the FOPH advises that the tests currently available on the market are less precise than the PCR tests that have been used since spring and with which a patient can expect a result in one or two days. According to the BAG, rapid tests can already be used in laboratories. Use outside of laboratories, for example in doctor’s offices, is still being examined.
The Roche rapid test is available in Switzerland from 21 September. For medical professional use only, not for private use, as the company emphasizes. The demand is high. A Roche spokesperson declined to comment on who is currently sourcing the tests. However, Zurich health director Natalie Rickli confirms that some hospitals are already using rapid tests. His own canton is planning to establish a mandatory camp for these tests.
Rapid Test Issues in the US
Unlike Rickli, the health directors conference endorses the federal government’s course on rapid tests. One does not get the impression that the federal government is too slow with the introduction, says a spokesman. The tests would have to be thoroughly tested for use on a large scale.
This was apparently not always the case abroad: in the US state of Nevada, the use of two rapid tests in nursing homes had to be stopped. You had too many false positives as reported by the New York Times. Roche’s competitors are affected.
And even in Germany, despite long-announced plans by the Ministry of Health, it is not fixed
if the rapid tests can start next week. There, the validations have not yet been completed either.