It is now official, it will be possible to carry out your own screening test for the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the High Authority for Health (HAS) gave the green light to these self-tests.
The nasal sampling device will be available from this weekend in all pharmacies.
For its part, Carrefour hastened to announce that the self-tests would be sold in the pharmacies of its supermarkets.
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Carrefour has taken literally the words of the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon who declared on Sunday March 14 that the self-tests would be offered
"perhaps in supermarkets or pharmacies in any case"
.
“Carrefour immediately mobilized to obtain them.
The health of our customers and employees has always been the group's priority since the start of this crisis.
This is how we did our work, ”
Carrefour told
Le Figaro.
The distributor specifies having
"ordered a million self-tests"
, the
"first of which will be in the drugstores of our stores this weekend"
.
“These will be boxes of 20 self-tests, priced at € 39.90.
Secondly, we will be offering boxes of 5 self-tests at € 14.90 ”
, he adds.
The self-tests will not be available on the supermarket shelves.
And for good reason,
"it is an in vitro diagnostic medical device which is therefore subject to the pharmaceutical monopoly"
, explains Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of dispensing pharmacists, at
Le Figaro
.
He also wonders about Carrefour's ability to be able to provide self-tests for sale this weekend.
According to him, no list of self-tests approved by the health authorities had yet been made available to health professionals on Wednesday evening.
It is therefore impossible to know which model to order and to be delivered on time for this weekend.
"Nothing prevents you from throwing it away"
Philippe Besset also wonders about the strategy of the executive which makes it possible to offer these self-tests for sale in supermarkets.
"In my opinion, they would be useful in schools or companies, places where you have to test a large population repeatedly in a simple way
,
" he
explains, pointing to the fact that this system does not implies no obligation to inform the health authorities if his test is positive.
“There's nothing stopping you from throwing it away,” he
adds.
Several countries authorized this new screening device long before France.
This is the case in Germany where it has been marketed in supermarkets, in particular those of Aldi and Lidl, since March 6.
In a few minutes, the shelves of the stores of the two brands offering it for sale were robbed.
Since March 1, Austrians have been able to get their supplies directly from pharmacies and receive five free self-tests per month.
The same goes for Switzerland, which indicated at the beginning of March that it wanted to offer some in order to support the restart of economic and social life.
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