Healthcare workers will be able to benefit from serological tests on medical prescription. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced Tuesday the implementation of this measure "from next week" to find out if they have contracted or not the coronavirus.
These tests, which will allow those concerned to "know their state of immunity", will be available to nursing staff "at the hospital, in nursing homes, in medico-social establishments" but "also in the city," said the Minister. in the National Assembly, questioned during questions to the government.
According to Olivier Véran, this measure will also be extended "to all staff working in the field of emergency accommodation". This will provide "an additional diagnostic weapon," he insisted.
Uncertainty
Serological tests can tell if someone has had Covid-19, by checking to see if they have developed antibodies. They are based on blood tests. They are distinguished from virological tests, or PCR, which allow to say that a patient is infected at the time when they are carried out.
Different types of serological tests are currently available, the reliability of which is considered uneven by the health authorities. Uncertainty remains about the protection offered by the presence of antibodies against the virus.
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"There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who have antibodies are immune to a second infection," warned the World Health Organization (WHO).