Covid-19 in Spain: drug tests out of stock before Christmas
Spaniards lining up to take an antigen test for Covid-19 in Alcobendas, on the outskirts of Madrid, on January 27, 2021. AP - Bernat Armangue
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
As the holidays approach, many Spaniards are flocking to tests for Covid-19.
In Madrid, it is impossible to do a test, whether in private laboratories, assaulted, or in primary health centers, overwhelmed.
Pharmacies are out of stock.
Spain has gone from an incidence rate of 100 to almost 500 in just a few weeks. With the holidays, health authorities fear that the Omicron variant will worsen the level of contagion.
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With our correspondent in Madrid,
François Musseau
Only a handful of days away from Christmas, the situation is getting more complicated in the face
of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain
. As many people seek testing, finding tests has become an impossible task in the capital, and even in some neighborhoods. Pharmacist near Gran Via, the commercial heart of Madrid, Belen Rodriguez is like many others out of stock.
"
We are without reservations,
" she confides.
There is so much consumption that all forecasts have been exceeded.
I don't know what really happened, but it's a disaster.
There is no test available.
We are a bit like at the start of the pandemic, when we were out of masks.
Well today it is the same with testing.
"
The government does not want to impose more restrictions
The concern can therefore be read on the faces.
In front of private laboratories, impressive queues form to do an antigen test just before Christmas meals.
In the few pharmacies that have tests, these have just increased from 5.50 euros to 7.90 euros.
And PCR tests cost around 100 euros.
In any case, many Spaniards express mistrust, like Magdalena, retiree: “
Antigenic tests are not a panacea, and besides, they are unreliable.
What people should do is not go to Christmas meals and not get together as a family.
We should take care of each other
.
"
As for the government of
Pedro Sanchez
, it refuses for the moment to take more restrictive measures.
It is an assumed risk, he admitted.
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Spain
Coronavirus
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