The new tests can provide results in 15 minutes
As reported by RTV Noord, the UMCG in Groningen has purchased around 17,000 rapid-result Coronavirus tests this week. The purchase comes after Deputy PM Hugo de Jonge (CDA) confirmed that two rapid tests have been approved for use in the Netherlands.
“I was afraid that they would soon no longer be available”, Niesters told RTV Noord on Wednesday. According to the virologist, the tests can be used in people who come forward from source and contact research by the GGD but who have no complaints yet.
The rapid test can also provide a solution for healthcare workers, says Niesters. The UMCG, together with the GGD, will consider whether the ‘priority test street’ for healthcare and education personnel can also use rapid tests. In addition, Niesters also wants to test medical students at the UMCG that, for example, do internships in the hospital. In recent weeks growing positive test numbers in Groningen have generally been pinned on the younger end of the popylation.
According to the NOS, the two approved tests have an accuracy of between 72 and 94 percent. According to Niesters, those people that the rapid test missed were in the latter stages of their Coronavirus infection path, and so were less likely to be infection: “the fact that the test misses these people is not so bad.”
Image by fernando zhiminaicela via Pixabay
