The statistical service of social ministries announced Thursday that the bar of 100 million antigenic and PCR tests to detect the coronavirus has been crossed.
The calculations date back to the start of the epidemic in March 2020. Saliva tests are used less and less in schools.
More than 100 million Covid-19 screening tests have been carried out in France since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, the statistical service of social ministries said Thursday.
"The 100 million mark has been crossed," announces Drees in its latest weekly update on PCR and antigen tests.
Between March 1, 2020 and July 4, 2021, "approximately 100.2 million tests were validated by a healthcare professional, including 20.6 million antigens, 76.6 million conventional PCRs and 2.8 million Salivary PCR.
Fewer and fewer saliva tests
Last week, the number of tests increased slightly, approaching 2 million, after several weeks of decline.
This rebound is particularly visible among 16-40 year olds, while saliva tests in schools are in free fall.
Supported 100% by Health Insurance, the tests cost 2.2 billion euros in 2020 and the Social Security expects to spend an additional 4.9 billion this year.
Medical Academy suggests no longer reimbursing tests
Unless the rules change: recently, the Academy of Medicine suggested waiving tests "for personal convenience", that is to say without medical reason. A track studied by the government, which is considering "when vaccination has been offered to all French", that is to say "probably in September", according to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.