Germany to Enable Rapid COVID Tests at Home Without Doctor

GERMANY to Enable Rapid COVID Tests at Home Without a Doctor

Germany’s Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn wants to change the rules and lift the so-called “doctor’s reservation” for the tests so that consumers can buy the COVID tests in the pharmacy themselves and take them at home.

According to Jens Spahn: “Tests for self-application [at home] will play a decisive role in containing the pandemic in the future.”

The North-Rhine Pharmacists’ Association welcomes Spahn’s plans: “Studies show that [laypeople] also achieve good test results,” said association boss Thomas Preis.

The test is expected to come as a spit and gargle test, “this makes handling easier than swabbing the throat with a cotton swab.”

According to Preis, he expects the tests to be available in pharmacies from the end of January. They would then probably cost ten to 15 euros. “The government will have to consider whether to support those in need with vouchers,” he said.

On Friday, January 22, Regional Health Officials in the German state of Hesse confirmed the first case of the Brazilian mutation of Covid had been discovered in a passenger returning from a trip to Brazil. Hessian Social Affairs Minister Kai Klose reported that the man tested positive for the new coronavirus strain when he returned to Germany on Thursday, January 21.

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