End of free anti-Covid tests: the drop in demand is confirmed

The fall was expected, but its magnitude remained to be proven.

According to the latest data from the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), attached to the Ministry of Health, the number of tests validated by a health professional collapsed last week .

In total, France has validated more than 161 million tests since March 2020.

Read also Covid-19: free tests will have cost more than "8 billion euros" to the State in two years

From October 18 to 24, the week after the delisting, 2,297,683 tests were validated, a number down 29% from the week of October 4.

Demand thus returned to its level of July 10, prior to the peak of summer.

By comparison, the number of samples collapsed by 60% from the historical level on August 20.

This decrease is largely explained by the end of free, analyzes the Drees: it led "

", we note, compared to the week of before.

In addition, the sharp increase observed on the 14th, the day before the end of the free service, logically led to a notable decrease in the following days.

The fall in demand is "

" says Drees.

It is observed in all age groups, with the exception of people aged 15 and under.

A logical consequence of the delisting and the very advanced vaccination campaign among these populations.

An expected drop

Notably, the drop in the number of tests performed each week continued and accentuated a trend observed since mid-August, as the epidemic receded and vaccine injections increased. The decrease is however less important than certain actors anticipated: François Blanchecotte, boss of the National Union of medical biologists, thus expected a "

decline

". The actual figure is much lower. For its part, the Ministry of Health estimates that the weekly number should settle for a time around two million, and the laboratories, questioned by us, considered the figure of "

" to be overestimated.

The purpose of the reimbursement was to boost vaccination and relieve the state's wallet. If the second goal should be achieved thanks to the decline in demand, the first seems more compromised. Having fallen below 30,000 per day at the beginning of October, the number of first injections continues to drop: it has now stabilized around 24,000 daily doses on average. "

" without the battery of measures taken recently, including the vaccination obligation imposed on caregivers and the delisting of tests, judged Tuesday the Ministry of Health .

Financially, the economy runs into hundreds of millions of euros.

The cost to public finances of an RT-PCR test with a result return bonus is “around

”, against 25.01 euros for an antigen test with a sample taken from a pharmacist, specified the Insurance company. -

disease 

.

For the 2021 testing campaign, the government budgeted 6.2 billion euros, or about 119 million euros each week.

A 30% drop in demand, if sustained, will lead to substantial savings.