A rapid corona test provides results after a short time.
Citizens should soon be able to test themselves at home.
In order to be tested for the coronavirus, you have to undergo a so-called PCR test *.
However, it usually takes a few days before the result is available.
Until then, it may well be that you have been infected elsewhere in the meantime - a major disadvantage that can be avoided with rapid tests.
However, the latter are not really in use in Germany yet.
But that should change soon: As the German Press Agency (dpa) reports, the Federal Ministry of Health is planning that the rapid tests should also be available in pharmacies.
It will probably be in March.
Corona rapid tests for at home: These tests are possible
Rapid
tests
are usually
only performed by trained personnel, as they require a swab with a long stick deep in the throat or nose.
Since this is not only uncomfortable, but also difficult for private individuals to practice, slightly different products are under discussion for self-tests.
So are gargle and saliva tests
for example much easier to do.
Alternatively, tests could also be used in which
swabs
are taken from
the nose further ahead
.
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Corona rapid tests for at home: How reliable are the results?
+
Corona rapid tests should soon also be possible at home.
© Oliver Mueller / Imago
Last autumn, the Charité in Berlin, together with the Heidelberg University Hospital, examined how around 150 suspected corona patients fared when handling a
self-test and instructions
that were not yet on the market
.
The swab had to be guided along the inner walls of the nose in a circular motion for 15 seconds in the front nasal area at a depth of two to three centimeters.
According to Charité Professor Frank Mockenhaupt, only minimal differences between self-test and test with a deep nasal swab by a professional were observed.
According to the study,
33 out of 40 infected people were detected
during
the self-test,
and 34 when using specialist personnel.
Self-tests - for example blood sugar tests for diabetics - have to
go through
a
special test procedure
in Germany,
for example with the help of the TÜV or the Dekra.
This is to guarantee that they are really easy to use for every layperson.
This ranges from the comprehensibility of the packaging insert to the materials.
In addition, “the
quality of
the
results
must be
ensured under these application conditions”, as the Federal Ministry of Health continues -
the test results must therefore be meaningful
.
Even with conventional rapid tests, experts point out that they can only be a snapshot and that they work particularly well
in people with a high viral load
.
A negative test doesn't have to mean that you don't already have the virus in you.
With a view to the future self-tests, the Federal Association of German Pharmacists' Associations says that for every positive test at home,
an immediate call to the family doctor or health department should
be made.
"Only a PCR test from the laboratory can reliably confirm the result of the rapid test and thus precisely map the infection process."
Also read
: Corona mutations: What makes "escape mutants" so dangerous.
When will the corona self-tests come on the market?
After it is clear that the ministry wants to clear the way for the self-tests, the companies can now work at full speed on the approval of such tests, said the managing director of the Association of the Diagnostics Industry, Martin Walger.
It will take "
a few weeks
"
before
the tests are
ready
.
According to him, it is conceivable that, in addition to gargle tests, the current rapid tests with the long chopsticks will also be approved for private use.
(ec / dpa) * merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen editorial network.
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List of rubric lists: © Oliver Mueller / Imago