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ARCHIVED - Coronavirus self-testing kits to go on sale in Spain on 20th July
No prescription required for over-the-counter antibody test kits in Spanish pharmacies
Pressure has been mounting on the Spanish government for some time to allow pharmacies to sell coronavirus self-testing kits over the counter, and on Tuesday it was announced by Carolina Darias, the Minister for Health, that this change will be implemented as of Tuesday 20th July.
The kits will be available without prescription and pharmaceutical companies are to be allowed to promote them through advertising.
Sra Darias explained that the change in policy has been brought about by the alarming recent increase in Covid case numbers which has led to the 14-day incidence rates in 14 of Spain’s 17 regions exceeding the “extreme risk” threshold of 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. She stated in Congress that it has become “important to establish means of self-diagnosis” and to remove the hurdle of obtaining a doctor’s prescription prior to acquiring a kit.
In the recent past the Ministry has rejected requests from various regional governments to make the kits available over the counter, but now Spain has followed the lead taken by other European nations including Germany, France, Portugal, Italy and Austria. In some places the kits are free, although no indication has been given that this will be the case in Spain.
The kits available will consist of antigen and antibody tests and will provide rapid results – in the case of antigen tests the time required is as little as 15 minutes. However, the reliability is lower than that of PCR testing.
While the Ministry has not yet published pricing guidelines, in Portugal the sale price per kit is between 7 and 10 euros. In France the government has set a fixed price of 5.20 euros and in Germany the kits are even available in supermarkets: for example, Aldi are reported to be selling packs of 5 kits for 25.99 euros, although Lidl are undercutting them with a price tag of 21.99 euros!