Test replenishment resists – Corona self-tests are in short supply in many places – News

If you want to test yourself for Corona quickly before Christmas, you will find empty shelves in many pharmacies.

At the moment it is a matter of luck whether you can still buy a set with corona self-tests in the nearest pharmacy or not, as the President of the Zurich Pharmacists’ Association, Lorenz Schmid, says. A lot of pharmacies have been shut down and can no longer deliver. He hopes that further deliveries will arrive in Switzerland by the end of the year at the latest.

Schmid still has a few quick tests in his pharmacy on Zurich’s Paradeplatz, but his supply could already be used up, so demand is these days. And getting supplies is currently difficult.

Roche confirms delivery bottleneck

Andreas Tschan, head of the Pharma Focus company, also confirms that self-tests are scarce. This supplies several hundred pharmacies in the country. According to Tschan, the demand for self-tests has risen sharply in recent weeks. Although he has ordered a large number of tests from his suppliers at home and abroad, he only receives some of the orders. The bottleneck is also confirmed by the pharmaceutical company “Roche”, which produces such self-tests itself.

Some pharmacies are better off

The situation is apparently better with certain pharmacy chains such as Amavita or Sunstore. These belong to Galenica. Its spokeswoman Tanja Clément says her pharmacies currently have enough self-tests. And Martine Ruggli, President of the Swiss Pharmacists’ Association Pharma Suisse, says that self-tests can not only be bought in pharmacies, but also partly in retail outlets.

So if you want to test yourself before Christmas, you need either luck, perseverance or a good instinct.