The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Lauterbach plan to prevent shortage of PCR - Omikron pushes laboratories to their limits

2022-01-19T20:25:05.522Z


Lauterbach plan to prevent shortage of PCR - Omikron pushes laboratories to their limits Created: 01/19/2022 21:17 By: Kai Hartwig Health Minister Lauterbach plans to prioritize PCR tests. © Kay Nietfeld/dpa The PCR test is an important factor in the fight against the omicron wave. And threatens to become scarce soon. Health Minister Lauterbach reacts. Berlin – On Wednesday (January 19) Germa


Lauterbach plan to prevent shortage of PCR - Omikron pushes laboratories to their limits

Created: 01/19/2022 21:17

By: Kai Hartwig

Health Minister Lauterbach plans to prioritize PCR tests.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The PCR test is an important factor in the fight against the omicron wave.

And threatens to become scarce soon.

Health Minister Lauterbach reacts.

Berlin – On Wednesday (January 19) Germany cracked an eerie mark.

For the first time, more than 100,000 new infections with the corona virus were reported to the Robert Koch Institute within 24 hours.

The Omicron wave has long since had the Federal Republic under control.

In order to prevent the virus from spreading further rapidly, the federal and state governments are relying on booster vaccinations in the fight against the pandemic - and also on nationwide testing.

But the laboratories and health authorities are currently reaching their capacity limits.

PCR tests could soon be a rare commodity.

That's why Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to pull the emergency brake.

And set priorities when assigning PCR tests.

PCR tests against Corona: Health Minister Lauterbach wants priority for doctors and nurses

According to a report by

Bild

, the Ministry of Health says that employees in hospitals and nursing homes should be given priority testing. One must ensure "in medical laboratories to maintain a functioning health and care system, a priority diagnosis of sample material from employees who come into contact with particularly vulnerable groups of people", is quoted from the draft.

The Ministry would thus meet the wishes of many laboratory physicians.

The Professional Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM) sounded the alarm on Tuesday (January 18).

In a press release, the association stated that the utilization of the test capacity of the laboratories nationwide was an average of 86 percent.

And called for preference for doctors and nurses during the testing itself.

Omicron wave: laboratory doctors want to prioritize themselves even when testing for corona

"In order to avoid overload, we appeal to the necessary consistent prioritization of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics already during test acceptance according to the specifications of the national test strategy," said ALM Chairman Dr.

Michael Mueller.

According to the association, it has so far been possible to cope with the increased volume of test evaluations.

However, the laboratory capacities cannot be expanded at will.

At some point the limit was reached, the association said.

(kh)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-19

You may like

Business 2024-02-27T19:04:22.606Z
News/Politics 2024-01-30T06:10:03.374Z
News/Politics 2024-03-27T15:55:09.683Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.