While many veterinarians were sorry that the authorities did not call upon their skills more, France was gradually changing its rifle. Hospitals will no longer be the only ones to have a Covid-19 screening authorization: this now concerns all public or private laboratories which normally do not practice medical biology. These are voluntary establishments, veterinary, departmental laboratories, or even public research laboratories, said Minister of Health Olivier Véran. In addition, the Institut Pasteur validated a new PCR test on Monday.
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The veterinary sector could produce "a hundred thousand tests per week"
Jean-Luc Angot, president of the veterinary academy of France, welcomed this new authorization, but would like to go even further. According to him, if France really wants to increase its analytical capacities, it will also have to increase the quantity of reagents necessary for carrying out these screening tests: "We are in a context of a shortage of reagents. However, we have the possibility that laboratories, industrialists in the veterinary field can produce reagents ", he recalls.
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According to him, "they have significant capacities since the main producers in France could, if authorization is given, each produce a hundred thousand tests per week, which is very important in a context of massive screening". He hopes for a response in the coming days and ensures that the file is being examined at the ministry.
A new PCR test
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In parallel, the test of the Franco-British laboratory Novacyt, already marketed in 80 countries, has just been validated by the Institut Pasteur. It is a PCR (polymerization chain reaction) test, which works by sampling from the nose and throat. There are already around twenty available in France, the idea being to multiply the number of these tests, since the Ministry of Health wants to go from 30,000 PCR tests per day to 50,000 at the end of the month.