[ad_1]
The pharmaceutical company Roche will deliver its new corona rapid tests in Switzerland in the coming days. First to the public and private diagnostic laboratories.
The Swiss economy has high hopes for these so-called rapid Sars-CoV-2 antigen tests, which work in a similar way to pregnancy tests and are 96.5 to 99.7 percent accurate. They should allow the current 10-day quarantine regime to be shortened. The suspected corona workers would be back at the factory, in hospitals or in the office faster. For tourists and returnees on vacation, entry would be much easier. If the test stick window shows two lines, the test is positive and they should be quarantined. Otherwise, they could enter the country without restrictions.
With entry rules in the books
In the Bundesbern, the call for a shorter quarantine is getting stronger. More recently, Finance Minister Ueli Maurer (69) called for more tests and a shorter quarantine. For Corona Task Force member and epidemiologist Marcel Tanner (67) it is also clear: “As soon as reliable rapid tests are available, we have to go through the books again with the entry rules.”
Roche does not want to comment on whether the rapid test is adequate to reduce the quarantine period. “We do not comment on the testing strategies of the authorities,” says Roche spokeswoman Nina Mählitz.
The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) does not currently recommend the new tests because they have not yet been validated. US authorities, on the other hand, have seized 150 million pieces of the only other rapid antigen test that is highly accurate and does not require laboratory equipment. They let the product of the American company Abbott cost 760 million dollars.
Test against second block
Despite the reluctance in federal Bern, epidemiologists and politicians are not only examining a new quarantine strategy. With the entry of antigen testing to the market, they are now also bringing a new testing strategy to the table. Even if the number of cases and illnesses increases, rapid and frequent tests can prevent a second blockage. This applies even if contact tracking is no longer possible due to many cases.
Rather than investigating individual suspected cases, rapid and inexpensive antigen testing should be performed repeatedly in the general population. Those who tested positive would have to be quarantined, the chains of infection would be broken.
Some scientists even believe that a sophisticated testing strategy could make a corona vaccination superfluous. To this day, this is considered unrealistic. As long as physicians have to perform rapid antigen tests, comprehensive tests fall short of capacity.
Not for a self test
Because you can’t do the quick test yourself at home. A doctor has to do it. It would take until next spring to prove the tests are safe for the consumer.
Roche does not consider the rapid test to be a substitute for the PCR test. But it has great advantages when laboratory capacity is low and results are needed very quickly. Furthermore: “Since it works without additional test equipment, it is also particularly suitable for use in regions that do not have good access to PCR testing.
At the same time as the new rapid test, Roche is delivering a new combined flu corona test to laboratories. It takes three hours to get the result. These will be crucial hours in which patients who do not know if they have corona or seasonal flu can be tested.
Rapid antigen testing is the last hope in the corona testing jungle. Together with the American company Abbott, Roche is the only company that currently markets such a rapid test that does not require laboratory equipment for evaluation. Its technology is a great innovation in the fight against Corona.
The so-called PCR test is the test recommended by the federal government. Examine DNA in samples for parts of the coronavirus; the accurate evaluation process in the laboratory takes at least 48 hours. It can detect coronaviruses before symptoms appear; it is not known how long before.
The antigen test, on the other hand, shows special molecules (antigens) in the surface structure of the virus with which the human body reacts to intruding viruses. The test stick contains a strip that changes color in the presence of such antigens on the nasal swab and shows the T line within 15 minutes. As with the pregnancy test, there is a control strip (on the second line C) that changes color if the test is positive.
The tests mentioned differ significantly from the corona antibody tests that have been on the market since the spring. Antibodies are proteins that are only made in the body when it is ready to attack hostile viruses. As far as we know, the amount of antibodies does not peak until two weeks after infection. This means that antibody tests are too slow to tell an infected person that they should be quarantined.
Tens of thousands of Swiss have returned from their holidays abroad in recent weeks. Many of them from countries that are on the federal quarantine list. That means: returnees have to go through a ten-day quarantine. Bloss: Do you do that too? And what are the consequences if you don’t follow the rules?
A study by the comparison service Comparis shows how concerned the Swiss are about the issue. 80 percent of those questioned are in favor of stricter controls and, above all, buses for failure to comply with the quarantine requirement.
But that’s not all: anyone who gives incorrect data in restaurants, soccer games or clubs should be punished more severely. That is what 73 percent of those questioned demand. According to the majority of respondents (67 percent), failure to comply with the mask requirement should also be fined.
No fines for misused masks
It looks different when it comes to abiding by the distance rules. In this case, 67.9 percent consider a fine unnecessary. This is especially true for those under 35: three-quarters of this age group reject a bus. Compared to 62.1 percent of people ages 36-55 and 64.3 percent of people ages 56-74.
Patrik berger
