November the 23rd, 2020 – No referral will be needed to go and get a rapid test as Zagreb’s mass coronavirus testing begins as the fight against the spread of the virus continues.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, if you feel the symptoms of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, visit brzitest.com.hr, order a test and wait for your appointment. When you get it, you go to the health centre prescribed for your test, sit back in your car for fifteen minutes and then your results will be ready.
If your test returns a positive result, the procedure with the epidemiologists and your contacts is the same as if a “standard” test was done at the Andrija Stampar Institute, and if it is negative, and there are still symptoms present, then the person is referred for testing in the same way that has been done so far.
In short, this is exactly what the mass coronavirus testing in Zagreb will look like from today onward, and potential patients will no longer need to obtain referrals for testing. This is all being done with the aim of preventing the spread of coronavirus, but also to partially relieve the healthcare professionals who have performed all of the testing so far and had to deal with their processing.
“Physically speaking, we just can’t keep up with it like this anymore. We’ve got between a thousand and two thousand tests every day and it happens that sometimes we need two days to get the results of a single test. We want to avoid that, we want people to know right away, so we decided on these rapid antigen tests. The European Commission has already given a recommendation that this is the way to do it, and on November the 2nd, the Croatian Institute of Public Health gave the opinion that such tests can be good,” explained the head of the city’s health office, Vjekoslav Jelec, in conversation with Vecernji list.
As for the mass coronavirus testing locations themselves, as Jelec explains, there will be 12 of them for now, and the goal is that soon each of Zagreb’s city districts, meaning all 17 of them, will have one testing point. “Covid points will be organised in the same way as before, like, for example, the one at the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam), and teams of 10-12 people will work at them,” explained Jelec.
From sanitary engineers to medical technicians and nurses, all of those who want to help will be involved, and all of them have already undergone special training for the job. More than three hundred healthcare professionals turn out to be positive every day, and that’s the situation as it stands. That’s why we’re glad that the Polytechnic jumped in to help us,” added Jelec, noting that the price of the antigen test, which citizens will not need to pay for, is between eight and ten euros.
“Of course, we’re paying attention to procurement so that the quality of the tests is better, but we’ve already managed to find some with a reduced price at between six and seven euros”, he stated, adding the first 50 thousand tests will cost around three and a half million kuna in total.
“We have to take all this seriously and we hope that the people of Zagreb will do so too, we hope that they’ll respond to any symptoms by organising a rapid test for themselves. It has never been easier to check your condition, and that’s best shown by antigen tests in symptomatic people in the first five days of illness. So, whoever feels coronavirus symptoms should immediately register for their appointment,” said Jelec in his address to those of us who live in Zagreb, who will be the first in all of Croatia to have the opportunity to test without referrals and standing in lines.
What Jelec is still begging his fellow citizens for is the same mantra that has been valid since the beginning of the spread of the epidemic, and that is to be responsible. “I know that young people think that nothing can happen to them, that for many this is a conspiracy theory and the like, but the virus is here and it is real, and the worst thing is that this is a fight with an invisible enemy we don’t know much about,” warned Jelec.
Those who book a rapid test must arrive for it on time, wear a protective mask and bring their insurance and ID cards with them. Their results will be issued to them on the spot and they’ll also receive an email copy. Their results will also be sent to the Andrija Stampar Institute and the infected person will be reported to the central system for monitoring coronavirus-positive people, writes Vecernji list.
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