Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, announced on Sunday March 14 on BFMTV the arrival this week of self-tests in the territory, in pharmacies and supermarkets.
Less painful, easier to access and faster, these new tests, already used by our neighbors for a few weeks, are eagerly awaited in France.
How do they work?
How reliable are they?
What will their cost be?
Le Figaro
takes stock.
To discover
Test, isolation: the procedure to follow in the event of a suspicion of Covid-19
Read also: Covid-19: are self-tests of real interest?
How does it work?
The principle is simple: just put the swab provided in your nose, stir it on the surface and then place it in a tube with a solution containing a reagent.
Once this step is over, you must place two droplets on a strip - like a pregnancy test - which will give the result after about twenty minutes.
Xavier Guérin, President of Innova Medical Group Europe, specializing in the production of self-tests, explains on BFMTV that this procedure is “
easy to perform
”: “
You just have to make sure that the right actions are mastered
”.
To take the sample, no need to go deep in the nasopharynx, a method greatly feared by some users, as is the case for PCR tests, specifies Michel Guyon, marketing director of Roche Diagnostics France and expert in related diagnostic issues. to the health crisis, to the newspaper
Sud-Ouest
.
There is also no need to wait for the appearance of any symptoms: "
We will be reassured with these self-tests, we will be able to do them often
", assures Jérôme Salomon, taking in particular the example of the Germans who l 'use once a week with the family.
Read also: Where, when, how: 6 questions to understand coronavirus screening tests
How reliable are these tests?
Before being able to launch their marketing, the director general of health wishes to be "
certain that these tests are reliable
".
“
The real question for me is scientific evaluation.
We cannot authorize tests that give false negatives, or false positives,
”he insists.
So if it is not yet possible to give the reliability of the tests put on the market in France, one thing is certain, it is that the latter must have a reliability sensitivity greater than or equal to 80%.
Non-negotiable condition for their sale on the market.
Recently deployed in Germany, Portugal, Austria, the United Kingdom and the United States, the latter are said to have an 80% reliability, according to the companies that market them.
However, not all tests are equal, it will obviously depend on the brands that are distributed.
Read also: Covid-19: should children be vaccinated?
What will their cost be?
For the moment, it is not possible to establish their cost in France.
"
We are awaiting details from the High Authority for Health on models and marketing methods
",
tells
Figaro
Dominique Schlecher, president of the U system, who says he is on the "
starting blocks
".
Regarding the operating mode of our neighbors, according to him, the Austrian authorities "
give 5 masks per month to their citizens simply by presenting their Vitale card
", he had specified on RMC.
In the United States and Germany, the tests would be marketed between 20 and 25 euros.
The question of reimbursement for tests is also still under study.
According to Jérôme Salomon, “
everything will depend on the conclusions of the Haute Autorité de Santé
”.
The Director General of Health reminded everyone that “
France is the only country where tests are covered.
"
Read also: Covid-19: should France suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution?
What if the test is positive?
This test is one more tool in the fight against Covid-19.
The problem, according to Dominique Schelcher on RMC, lies in particular in the latency time between the tests that currently exist on the market and the result, which can be up to 48 hours.
With these new tests, within 20 minutes a result is displayed.
This makes it possible to know how to behave before the validation of a test whose reliability will be higher.
Indeed, "
it is necessary that the French can benefit from the confirmation of the test to know if indeed they are carriers of the variant, and so that they are well followed
", notes Jérôme Salomon.
“
The question is how we trigger the 'test, alert, protect' device, to have a follow-up of the person, his registration, and on the other hand, to ensure the side of health insurance if we has the recording of 'contact tracing', because if we no longer warn your contacts, it is a real problem
”, warns the director of general health.
