Will you have your Covid-19 test result on time? Nothing is less certain and everything will depend on when you realize it, warns François Blanchecotte, president of the national union of biologists. Guest of franceinfo this Thursday, he alerted the French who would choose to be tested in the afternoon or evening of December 24 and who will not necessarily have their result in time for Christmas Day. Analytical laboratories are inundated with demand as the holidays approach in response to recommendations from health authorities to get tested before year-end family reunions.
“If you come on the afternoon of the 24th or in the evening you will not necessarily get your result even if we have managed to reduce the time to less than 7 hours, it is difficult. So we have to do it today (Thursday). We planned to open on Sunday the 26th, the 25th we reduced a bit“, explains François Blanchecotte. The representative of the laboratories specifies that currently, the average time to obtain the result of a PCR test is less than 24 hours in 95% of cases. And in less than 12 hours in 85% of cases.
6.3 million tests in one week
“When you come in the afternoon you have it at night or the next morning“, adds François Blanchecotte, specifying that the PCR tests represent 40% of the tests carried out, against 60% for the antigens. As a reminder, the result of the antigenic tests is obtained 15 minutes on average. The president of the union of biologists specifies:”We tried to open as many screening centers as possible and we reduced the waiting time since we don’t have an appointment.“6.3 million tests are performed per week currently.
If you don’t have enough time to get tested, the other option is to go to self-tests, also taken by storm in pharmacies. But be careful, they are recommended only for people without symptoms, who are not in contact and who do not think they are contaminated.