Covid-19: the government is revising the test bill on the rise

Europe 1 9:42 p.m., January 04, 2022

The government is counting on an invoice for Covid-19 screening tests at 6 billion euros for 2021, said Budget Minister Olivier Dussopt on Tuesday, up due to massive use of screening in December.

"In 2021 we estimated that the test campaign would cost 5.2 billion euros, I think it will cost 6 billion more at the end", detailed Olivier Dussopt on BFM Business.

The fault in particular with a month of December particularly greedy in PCR and antigenic screenings, with the emergence of the Omicron variant before the end of year celebrations.

30 million screenings in December

In total, 30 million tests were carried out in December alone, or one seventh of the total tests since the start of the pandemic, said the minister. Olivier Dussopt, on the other hand, refused to confirm or deny the cost of the bill for the tests in December for social security, the newspaper Les Echos having put forward the figure of 1 billion euros on Tuesday.

"This is a completely plausible order of magnitude," the minister said all the same, adding that an evaluation of the final amount is underway but that it is too early to give a precise figure.

Free PCR and antigen tests are funded by social security and are compensated by the state.

"These are the best possible investments," said Olivier Dussopt on Tuesday, because they protect "the health and the ability of the economy to function".