No PCR test with red warning app
Lauterbach announces new test regulation
2/9/2022, 6:07 p.m
The high omicron counts push the PCR labs to their limits. First, the federal government wants to maintain the right to a PCR test only for certain groups of people – now everyone has access to the laboratory tests. However, not like before.
In view of the high number of corona infections, the use of more precise PCR laboratory tests should be more concentrated in the future. The basic right to this should remain – but for the time being, PCR tests should only be carried out after a positive antigen rapid test. “At the peak of the pandemic, we use PCR tests in a more targeted manner,” said Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach to the editorial network Germany (RND).
The regulations result from a new draft for a modified test regulation. Accordingly, the basic right for all citizens to free PCR tests remains in principle. However, a red warning message on the Corona app is no longer enough. According to the ministry, a claim for a PCR test must first be clarified with a rapid test. “Anyone who needs certainty about an infection will get it,” emphasized Lauterbach at the same time.
In the future, rapid tests should be sufficient to “test oneself” prematurely from isolation as an infected person or from quarantine as a contact person of infected people. The test strategy should also ensure that risk patients and people in facilities such as nursing homes, practices, clinics and emergency services are given priority when evaluating PCR tests. However, these groups of people also need a positive rapid antigen test before they can do the PCR test.
Initially, it was planned to suspend the right to repeat PCR testing after a positive self-test or rapid test at a test station. The background to this was reports about dwindling PCR test capacities. The draft no longer provides for the restriction.