Corona tests
PCR test entitlement in future only after a positive rapid test
A red warning message on the Corona app is no longer sufficient for a PCR test. Photo: Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Up to now it was possible to get a free PCR test with a red Corona app warning message. That should change now. Health Minister Lauterbach would like to use these tests more specifically in the future.
Because of the high number of corona infections in Germany, the use of the more precise PCR laboratory tests should be more concentrated.
In general, the right to a free PCR test remains – but only if you have first received a positive antigen rapid test from a test center. In the future, this should also apply to the red tiles that light up in the warning app, as can be seen from a draft regulation by the Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told the editorial network Germany: “At the peak of the pandemic, we use PCR tests more specifically.” According to the ministry, they should essentially be concentrated on cases where positive results can be expected. The aim is to keep an eye on the pandemic, to give special protection to vulnerable groups and to give certainty to people who have positive rapid tests. “Anyone who needs certainty about an infection will get it,” emphasized Lauterbach.
The future regulations result from a new draft for a modified test regulation and from adjustments to the test strategy, which are also available to the German Press Agency. The background is that laboratory capacities are becoming scarcer in the omicron wave.
In the future, rapid tests should be sufficient to “test” yourself prematurely from isolation as an infected person or from quarantine as a contact person of infected people. In laboratory evaluations, priority should be given to PCR tests on high-risk patients and people in facilities such as nursing homes, practices, clinics and emergency services. However, they too must first have a positive antigen rapid test.