Another 100,000 rapid tests for diagnosing SARSCoV-2 were transmitted to the laboratory of the National Public Health Agency (NPHA) and are to be distributed to primary medical assistance institutions and hospitals for strengthening the capacities to diagnose and detect the virus among the population. The tests will be used in emergency admission units and in the primary medical assistance service, IPN reports.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection said the persons who have symptoms of COVID-19 or were in contact with a person confirmed with the virus can do a rapid test free of charge by going to the family doctor. Rapid testing should be applied during the first days of the appearance of symptoms. After this period, the test result should be ignored as it can present incorrect results. If the person has symptoms of COVID-19 and the rapid test is negative, specialists recommend doing the test through the PCR method.

Rapid testing allows obtaining results in a very short period of time, increasing the capacity to manage the cases, to take rapid public health measures and to monitor the contacts.

As many as 300,000 tests were purchased in total in the framework of the World Bank’s Moldova Emergency COVID-19 Response Project.