Supermarket managers will smile while pharmacists will look gray. Large surfaces will be able to sell self-tests until February 15 and not until January 31 as originally planned, according to a decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal. This derogation “made it possible to meet the very high demand” and “the context of intense circulation of the Omicron variant implies once extending the duration of fifteen days”, it is indicated.
“I don’t want to annoy the pharmacists, followingwards we have a possible service which is to sell them, find them and sell them cheaper. We are in favor of continuing to sell them cheaper, ”said Michel-Edouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee for E.Leclerc stores, on Friday on RMC. The public has been there since the end of December, since nearly 17 million self-tests were sold in supermarkets from December 28 to January 16, according to figures released on Friday.
Given that the virus circulates very strongly (340,000 positive cases are recorded every day on average), a lot of French people want to be able to test themselves at home without having to queue. The number of PCR and antigen tests carried out in pharmacies or in the laboratory has decreased over the past 10 days, from 1.7 to 1.5 million per day on average.
Less reliable than a “classic” test
The decree published this Saturday also provides that school staff members will be able to benefit from self-tests provided free of charge by pharmacists. The health situation “imposes particular vigilance in the school environment while avoiding, as much as possible, class closures” and “the provision of means of screening to staff who wish it is likely to contribute to this”, it is indicated. . Contact case students can have three free self-tests, since the entry into force of the new health protocol. The number is two for adult contact cases.
All this should not make us forget that a self-test is considered to be less reliable than a “classic” antigen test, via a swab inserted deeper into the nose. Especially if it is not carried out in accordance with the precise instructions provided by the manufacturers.
