To avoid any surge in prices, the government has chosen to supervise the marketing of self-tests.
A decree from the Minister of Health published on Sunday in the Official Journal authorizes the sale in pharmacies of these Covid-19 screening tests on nasal swabs to be carried out at home, for asymptomatic people over 15 years of age.
These self-tests "
will gradually be deployed in thousands of pharmacies throughout the week,
" said the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in an interview with the
Journal du dimanche
.
They “
will be quickly made available in schools,
” he added, saying he considered “
going up to two tests per week per student and per teacher
”.
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A framed price
These self-tests, which do not require the presence of health professionals and whose sampling method is "
less invasive
" than RT-PCR devices, "will
allow more frequent tests to be carried out
", underlines the order published in the OJ.
Their price will be limited: it cannot exceed 6 euros until May 15, then beyond 5.20 euros.
Their sale on the internet is prohibited.
The self-tests will be delivered free of charge, upon proof, to home-based employees working with elderly or disabled people, as well as to family carers accompanying these people.
Read also: Covid-19: vaccination will be open on Monday to everyone over 55, announces Olivier Véran
The High Authority for Health (HAS) has given the green light to the deployment of these self-tests, but in its opinion published on March 16, it specifies that any positive self-test must then be confirmed by an RT-PCR test.
“
We can test ourselves at home and, in the event of a positive result, it will be necessary to confirm it by PCR.
Not only to check if there is a variant, but also to keep a monitoring tool
, ”confirms Olivier Véran in the columns of the JDD.
