Who to screen? The question has been asked tirelessly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The doctrine adopted by the French public authorities has not changed: no massive screening of the population. Only "patients with breathing difficulties or chronic illnesses, symptomatic elderly people, symptomatic health professionals, organ, cell or tissue donors and pregnant women" may be tested as directed of the General Directorate of Health.
The appearance, in recent days, of health centers carrying out screening operations, in Paris, in Ile-de-France, but also in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), or even in Montpellier (Hérault), where samples are even taken in "drive-in" with tested people by sitting in their car, may change the situation. And sounds like a first response to the injunctions of the World Health Organization (WHO).
VIDEO. Coronavirus: patients tested in a drive corona
“You can't win a football game just by defending. We must also attack, ”said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, on Monday during a press conference. "Asking people to stay at home and establishing other physical distance measures is an important way to slow the progression of the virus and save time, but these are defensive measures that will not help us win, a- he continued. To win, we must attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics. Each suspect case should be tested, each confirmed case isolated and treated, and each close contact should be monitored and quarantined. "
Far behind Germany
French health authorities are not yet launching major screening operations, as was the case in South Korea from the start of the epidemic or, more recently, in Germany, where 500,000 are now tested. people per week. The choice of “rational use” is justified by the objective of “containing the epidemic” and not of measuring it, explained a week ago the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. But the latter also intended to speed up the pace "to be able to multiply the tests when the containment is lifted".
On Tuesday, Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, said that the current testing capacity for Covid-19 would drop from 9,000 per day to 29,000 daily by the end of next week. Without necessarily waiting for the containment to be lifted, the duration of which, in all likelihood, should be extended.
