The government has thus called on the various laboratories in the Grand Duchy to increase their Covid-19 testing capacity.
Laboratoires Réunis announced that it would be able to increase its daily testing capacity from the current 2,500 to 3,000 in the next few days, according to deputy director and doctor Stéphane Tholl in an interview with our colleagues from RTL.lu. Nevertheless, the lab deplores a lack of staff to carry out the nose swabs. According to Tholl, discussions are underway with the National Health Directorate to enable other people to also perform the screening, such as doctors’ assistants or medical students.
As the maximum validity of the tests has been decreased to 48 hours, the number of laboratory assistants has also been increased in order to obtain the results more quickly.
The deputy director of Laboratoires Réunis also asks clients to respect the appointment time to avoid queues and disproportionate waiting. All contact details must be entered correctly when making an appointment in order for the contact tracing system to function properly.
As already indicated by Ketter Thill, Laboratoires Réunis deplores an increase in general patient aggression. According to their estimates, the situation could reach “serious” levels in January, and they are calling on citizens to show respect for all those involved in testing.
Tholl also points out that “the PCR test is the gold standard of testing”, but sometimes, if a result turns out to be a false positive or negative, it is usually due to “a poorly performed sample”.
