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COVID-19 RULES

Denmark to reduce Covid-19 rapid testing capacity

Authorities in Denmark have informed private contractors that they will now be asked to provide a maximum of 300,000 rapid tests for Covid-19 daily.

Published: 19 July 2021 15:16 CEST
Denmark to reduce Covid-19 rapid testing capacity
People queue for rapid Covid-19 tests in Aalborg in April 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

That represents a reduction of the 400,000 daily tests which were available at the time of the downsizing.

The decision was made after demand dropped below 200,000 tests for seven consecutive days, the relevant authority, Styrelsen for Forsyningssikkerhed (Agency for Supply Sufficiency), said in a statement.

A maximum distance of 20 kilometres to the nearest test centre will remain in place. Both PCR and rapid tests will continue to be available in all municipalities.

Denmark ramped up its rapid testing capacity earlier in the year as it made a recent negative test a requirement to use many public services following the lifting of lockdown. But the demand for the tests has gradually tailed off as the number of vaccinated people increased.

“Weekly cotton buds in the nose and throat are history for very may Danes but we must continue to ensure good testing capacity for people who still need a test for their corona passports,” agency director Lisbeth Zilmer-Johns said in a statement.

The capacity for PCR testing is 170,000 tests daily and will not be changed.

An average of 81,000 PCR tests and 146,000 rapid tests were taken daily during the last week, according to the statement.

The downscaling means that some centres will now have shorter opening hours and fewer staff available.

Authorities generally pay the private suppliers for the number of tests they carry out, rather than based on capacity.

READ ALSO: What tourists need to know about Denmark’s coronapas system

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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