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From next week, caregivers will be able to obtain a medical prescription to perform a serological test to find out if they have contracted the coronavirus announced Tuesday Olivier Véran. "The Ministry of Health will finally publish the list of [serological] tests that will be authorized, reimbursed, with a price to be set by the government. And by prescription, all these tests will be reimbursed," said François Blanchecotte , the president of the union of biologists, on Europe 1 Wednesday.
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Reimbursement of serological tests will "change the game"
Serological tests can tell if someone has had Covid-19, by checking to see if they have developed antibodies. They are based on blood tests and are distinguished from virological tests, or PCR, which allow to tell if a patient is infected at the time when they are carried out.
Until now, only PCR tests have been reimbursed. The reimbursement of serological tests will therefore "change the game", says François Blanchecotte. "Once the test will be reimbursed, if you come out of the indication, at the limit without a prescription, you could have this test but at the same price," he adds.
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The serological tests, which will allow the persons concerned to "know their state of immunity", will be available for the nursing staff "in the hospital, in a nursing home, in a medico-social establishment" but "also in the city", explained the Minister Tuesday. The measure should also be extended "to all staff working in the field of emergency accommodation".
Extension of tests to other people
"The decree which will be published in the official journal will extend the tests to other people who have very specific indications, that is to say to people who have symptoms but a negative PCR. We will invite them to come a serological test ", also indicates the president of the union of biologists.
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Different types of serological tests are currently available, the reliability of which is considered uneven by the health authorities. Uncertainty remains about the protection offered by the presence of antibodies against the virus. "There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who have antibodies are immune to a second infection," warned the World Health Organization (WHO).