"We will test 60 million French people every day? It is impossible, no country in the world does it," said the Minister of Health on Saturday, explaining on the one hand that the current testing capacities for the covid-19 were not sufficient and that, on the other hand, a negative virological test on a given day did not prevent being infected without knowing it the next day.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Saturday April 25
"An all-round screening of everyone in a company one morning [...] it makes no medical and scientific sense," he insisted, while some companies like Veolia announced their intention to subject their employees to screening tests when they resume their activity, after the deconfinement announced for May 11. Olivier Véran also stressed that these tests constituted "a medical examination which cannot be imposed" by the employer but which must be done on "medical prescription".
The minister was speaking at the Maison de la solidarité in Saint-Denis, after having visited a private biology laboratory in the same commune, on the edge of Paris, which has adapted its activity to greatly increase its screening test capacities for covid-19.
>> PODCAST - Coronavirus: find all the answers to your questions here
Test all suspicious cases during deconfinement
Currently, "we have exceeded 50,000" tests per day at the national level, assured Olivier Véran, the objective being "to carry out at least 500,000 to 700,000 tests per week from the moment when we gradually lift the confinement". The "national priority" will then be to test all suspect cases, people with symptoms, and people who have been in close contact with confirmed cases of coronavirus, he said. "If we then see that we are not saturated in testing capacity and that we can broaden the criteria, we will do so gradually," he said.
In the meantime, to "limit as much as possible" the circulation of the virus by asymptomatic people, the government is relying on the extension of "social distancing" measures and the carrying out of random tests for the purpose of epidemiological surveillance.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Can France hope for a more favorable scenario than Italy?
> Are women and people with blood type O more resistant?
> Are certain serious forms linked to a genetic factor?
> How will the distribution of masks take place in France?
> Back to school on May 11: under what conditions?
> How to keep sleep during confinement?
Several models of serological tests are also "being calibrated and validated by the health authorities", he also recalled, hoping to have validated some "next week". These blood tests tell whether a person has been infected with the virus, whether or not they have had symptoms, and the level of antibody developed that offers potential immunity.