A decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal extends by fifteen days the exemption granted to large retailers, which was originally due to end on January 31.
Good news for supermarket managers. According to a decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal, supermarkets will be able to continue to sell self-tests until February 15, and not until January 31 as originally planned.
Read alsoSuperstores sold nearly 17 million self-tests from December 28 to January 16
The authorities made this decision “Whereas the authorization of retail sale, on an exceptional basis, of self-tests outside pharmacies, has made it possible to meet the very strong demand; that the sustainability of the screening strategy, in a context of intense circulation of the Omicron variant, involves extending the duration of this fifteen-day derogation once, i.e. until February 15, 2022“, specifies the text. The sale of self-tests to screen for Covid-19 is actually authorized outside pharmacies.exceptionallysince December 28 to cope with the explosion in demand in the context of the fifth wave of Covid-19.
16.9 million self-tests sold
Faced with the spread of the Omicron variant, the French have indeed turned massively to self-tests sold in supermarkets. Large retailers sold some 16.9 million Covid-19 self-tests for 25 million euros in turnover, between December 28 and January 16, according to panelist NielsenIQ.
“I don’t want to annoy the pharmacists, afterwards we have a possible service which is to sell them, to find them and to sell them cheaper. We are in favor of continuing to sell them at a lower price“, declared this Friday on BFM / RMC Michel-Edouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of E.Leclerc stores. This authorization had indeed provoked the anger of pharmacists who had until then had a monopoly on the sale of self-tests. In particular, they accused supermarkets of being responsible for stock shortages in certain pharmacies.
The decree published this Saturday also provides that school staff members will be able to benefit from free self-tests provided by pharmacists. The health situation “imposes particular vigilance in the school environment while avoiding, as much as possible, class closures” and “the provision of means of screening to personnel who so wish is likely to contribute to this“, specifies the text. Pupils with contact cases can have three free self-tests since the entry into force of the new health protocol. Adult contact cases may benefit from both.
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Because of their speed and ease of use, self-tests are a good complement to PCR and antigen tests. But as a reminder, according to the High Authority for Health, antigenic tests to be carried out yourself detect the presence of virus in a sick person in 80% of cases. In other words, the remaining 20% are “false negatives“, that is to say unidentified carriers of the virus. But the other statistics are much less optimistic, evoking an efficiency around 70%.