COVID-19 testing in Slovakia.
COVID-19 testing in Slovakia.
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DOI:
10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30948-8
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发表时间:
2021-01
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
Holt E
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
Holt E
Infectious disease experts in Slovakia have urged the government to abandon plans to repeat nationwide testing of millions of people for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) amid warnings it would be a waste of resources and doubts over its effectiveness. The country made international headlines as, over the last weekend of October, Slovak authorities tested almost all the country’s adult population for coronavirus. A total of 3· 6 million people—out of an estimated 4 million target population—were tested that weekend with a countrywide positivity rate of 1· 06%. Testing was repeated the following weekend in selected areas where the rate had been above 0· 7%. The government turned to the plan as a way of trying to halt what it said at the time was an alarming acceleration in the virus spread with an economically costly strict 3-week lockdown as the only alternative.Prime Minister Igor Matovic announced in mid-November that further nationwide testing would be carried out over the first three weekends of December. But on Nov 25, he said the testing was being postponed. This came amid growing opposition to the plans, including within the government’s own pandemic advisory commission of scientific experts who said that while the nationwide testing had been a success, further rounds would exhaust the already stretched capacity of medical workers. Instead, they said that it would be more effective to carry out regular testing of specific high-risk communities, such as in locations with high infection rates, schools, hospitals, care homes, and critical state services. Pavol Jarcuska, president of the Slovak Society of Infectologists and a member of the commission