On the 28th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare held a subcommittee of experts on an antigen test kit that can simultaneously check for the presence of the new coronavirus and influenza, and decided to lift the ban on general sales at pharmacies and the Internet. .
Antigen test kits that can test for the presence or absence of new coronavirus and influenza infection at the same time were only approved for use at medical institutions. There was an opinion that we should establish a system that can be inspected.
At a subcommittee of experts from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare held on the 28th, the lifting of the ban on sales to the general public was discussed. There is an opinion that it is necessary to be aware of the response to
Based on this, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to lift the ban on sales at pharmacies and the Internet, on the premise of giving top priority to sharing with medical institutions.
Antigen tests are less accurate than PCR tests, and there is a risk of "false negatives" where the virus is judged to be negative even if the virus is small. We will notify the guidelines for those who have purchased.
Prospects for test kit supply
Currently, 12 products from 10 companies have been approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for manufacturing and selling test kits that can simultaneously test for new coronavirus and influenza infections.
Of these, 5 products from 4 companies have been approved for sale to the general public, meeting the conditions such as being able to collect specimens from the nostrils inside the nostrils.
One of these four companies will sell to the general public, and the timing and price at which sales can start will be considered in consideration of the infection situation.
The remaining three companies say that it is difficult to sell to the general public at this time in order to secure inventory to supply to medical institutions.
Regarding simultaneous test kits, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare says that each manufacturer has secured inventory of 39 million tests for medical institutions, but for the general public, the supply is expected to decrease for the time being.
Professor Tateda, Toho University "Significant attention is different positive timing"
Professor Kazuhiro Tateda of Toho University, who is a member of the government's subcommittee on countermeasures against the new coronavirus, said about the simultaneous test kit for the new coronavirus and influenza, ``If the number of corona infected people and fever patients increases explosively, fever outpatients If a simultaneous test kit can identify whether it is coronavirus or influenza, people who are at low risk of becoming seriously ill can receive prescriptions for medicines through online medical consultations and receive treatment at home, and even outpatients can be severely ill. It is very significant because it will allow us to prioritize people who are at high risk of becoming infected."
On the other hand, Professor Tateda said, ``It should be noted that the timing of positive results for coronavirus and influenza is slightly different. "Even if it's negative, we need to take another test the next day, and if we're not feeling well, we need to be careful not to go outside and spread the infection."