More and more countries in europe are also relying on mass testing in the fight against the pandemic: in the italian province of sudtirol, a three-day, free-of-charge series of tests started today.
At the start, long queues formed in front of many test stations, as reported by the media. Slovakia prepares for 2. December for the second time a nationwide corona mass survey before. Austria announced on friday first mass tests among teachers and police officers for early december.
The small alpine province of sudtirol, with a good half a million people, had a population of around 350,000 by sunday.000 people swabbed. That was two-thirds of the burghers. The rapid antigen test there is voluntary. The regional government in bolzano wants to use the campaign to track down virus carriers who are unaware of their infection. They are considered a dangerous source of infection. This is how the second corona wave should be broken more quickly. Italy was hit hard in the first wave in the spring. After a recovery in the summer, infection rates are now high again – also in comparison with germany.
Those who get a positive result, but are free of symptoms, should isolate themselves at home for ten days. Men, women and children over the age of five can participate. The test result should be available after half an hour at the latest. The authorities published the results on the internet: by 4 p.M. On friday, almost 83 people had tested positive.000 participants. More than 1250 people tested positive.
According to expert stephan ortner, the success of such a mass test depends heavily on the participation rate. As the director of the eurac research center in bolzano explained, a well-organized test with a high turnout can work as well "as a total lockdown of many weeks. A strong success is possible with a rate of 70 percent or more, as studies by his institute have shown. In a large country, such as all of italy or germany, such a voluntary test could probably not be carried out in a similar way, he said. In individual states, however, already.
The autonomous province is one of the red zones in italy with particularly strict exit restrictions because of the high corona numbers. On friday, the authorities there had registered more than 700 new infections within 24 hours. In the rest of italy the investigation was followed with much interest.
A trial run of do-it-yourself home tests started in the veneto region at the beginning of the week. The test kit contains a stick that is inserted into the nose and a control tube for the sample. Regional president luca zaia had demonstrated the mode of operation in a video. The region will initially distribute around 5000 of the antigen test kits. The study is to run for one month.
Slovakia sees itself as a pioneer of mass testing in europe. At the end of october and the beginning of november, the country had made rough series tests. Several million people took part. Thursday evening, prime minister igor matovic announced the 2nd round of testing. December the next testing of almost the entire population on. On friday, final preparations were underway for localized tests this weekend. In almost 500 small communities with previously particularly high infection rates, a third round of testing is to be carried out by sunday.
Because of heavy criticism of the previous procedure, matovic promised to introduce local tests for about 400 people.000 people will not be subject to sanctions for non-participation. After the first two rounds of testing, non-testers were treated almost the same as people with positive results. Without a negative test one was not even allowed to go to work.
In austria, all 200.000 teachers and kindergarten caregivers to be tested for the virus. The planned date is the weekend of 5 december. And 6. December, as the government announced. On 7. And 8. December, the 40.000 police officers follow.
Shortly before christmas, the entire population of nine million people will be able to be tested. Participation is voluntary, emphasized chancellor sebastian kurz. "These mass tests are a rough chance for austria to find the way back to normality until the vaccination", he announced. Another series of tests is planned in austria in early 2021.