Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19 TESTS

Covid-19: Denmark to further reduce PCR testing capacity

The number of daily PCR tests for Covid-19 available in Denmark is to be reduced to 10,000 from August 15th.

Published: 12 August 2022 15:04 CEST
Covid-19: Denmark to further reduce PCR testing capacity
Denmark is to further reduce Covid-19 PCR testing capacity. File photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

A decline in demand for PCR testing for Covid-19 is behind health authorities’ decision to further reduce capacity from 20,000 to 10,000 tests per day.

The Agency for Critical Supplies (Styrelsen for Forsyningssikkerhed) confirmed the change in a statement on Friday.

The reduction is part of the government’s Covid-19 testing strategy for the rest of 2022 and the first three months of 2023.

Last week saw the average number of PCR tests administered daily reached just 4,900.

Testing capacity can be ramped up again should case numbers go up after August 15th, the critical supplies agency said.

From August 15th, all tasks related to the national Covid-19 testing programme come under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.

The Danish Health Authority said on its website that it expects the coronavirus to become a seasonal infection similar to influenza.

“We must expect many to be infected with Covid-19 during the autumn and winter,” the authority writes.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COVID-19 TESTS

Denmark to close all remaining Covid-19 test centres by end of March

Health authorities in Denmark have decided that all regions will close any remaining Covid-19 test centres by the end of March.

Published: 10 February 2023 16:34 CET
Denmark to close all remaining Covid-19 test centres by end of March

The decision, confirmed by the South Denmark regional authority in a statement on Friday, reflects the limited demand for Covid-19 testing just under three years since the pandemic broke out in Denmark.

Closure of the remaining test centres does not mean it will no longer be possible to be tested for the coronavirus.

Instead, PCR tests will be offered at GP surgeries or hospitals if considered necessary by doctors. If there is no medical indication for a test, members of the public will be advised to use a self-administered lateral flow test.

Region South Denmark said that it would close its remaining centres in Odense, Svendborg, Vejle, Kolding, Aabenraa, Sønderborg, Esbjerg and on the island of Ærø on an ongoing basis by March 31st.

“It is good that Covid-19 is relatively minor in our society now, three years after the first Danes were infected with the disease,” the Region’s director Kurt Espersen said in the statement.

“National authorities have concluded that the response to corona now goes into a new phase,” he said.

“That means that public PCR testing is phased out by March 31st and that we can therefore close the regional test provisions that began in April 2020,” he said.

The closure of the state-funded test centres means regional health authorities will no longer receive money from the government to cover the operating costs of the testing facilities.

Some 67 million PCR tests have been administered at Danish Covid-19 test centres since they first appeared in April 2020, including 3.4 million positive tests according to national data.

Privately-operated antibody or “quick” test centres were phased out and closed last year, after giving around 61 million tests.

READ ALSO: Covid-19: Denmark decides against additional booster this winter

SHOW COMMENTS