Using another tool to fight COVID-19, Greece’s New Democracy government said it would distribute free rapid test kits through pharmacies, one weekly, although some store owners said they don’t know about it.
The move comes during a surging third wave of the pandemic and as some measures during a third locked would be eased in a bid to get the economy going again despite the health risk.
Everyone with a social security number will be entitled to four of the test kits per month, and they will be distributed at pharmacies, said the Reuters news agency of the plan.
“It is a new tool in the country’s battle against the pandemic. The tests will allow better epidemiological monitoring, and of course prevention,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.
The government said the do-it-yourself test kits have an accuracy rate of 95-99 percent and easier to do than rapid tests, using nasal and saliva samples instead of the nasopharyngeal sample used in rapid tests through the nose.
People who get a positive result will be instructed to report it to health authorities for the monitoring and tracing of COVID-19 infections, the government claiming Greece the first in the European Union to make them available.
Pharmacists though are said to be concerned about being overwhelmed by people as they must also limit how many customers can come into a store and complain of not being notified how the plan would work.
Read more at thenationalherald.com
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