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Covid-19: Denmark cuts PCR test capacity by 60 percent

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Covid-19: Denmark cuts PCR test capacity by 60 percent
People queue for Covid-19 testing in Denmark in April 2021. The country has downgraded its capacity to the lowest level under the national model. Photo: Tim Barsoe/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark has downgraded the national capacity for daily Covid-19 PCR testing with case numbers declining, the national Agency for Critical Supplies (Styrelsen for Forsyningssikkerhed) said on Monday.

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A lower demand for PCR tests is the reason for the downscaling of test capacity, the agency said. The capacity is now at the fifth and lowest level of authorities’ graded model for supplying Covid-19 testing.

The week commencing March 29th saw an average of around 15,000 tests administered daily. Official data shows that 2,080 new cases of Covid-19 were registered on Sunday among 12,508 PCR tests, giving a test positivity rate of around 17 percent. Generally, testing levels are now a fraction of those seen earlier in the pandemic.

The total capacity was on Monday adjusted from 100,000 tests per day to 40,000 tests per day.

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“In conjunction with the downgrading of test capacity, the number of test centres and opening times will be revised,” the agency said.

“PCR testing in the health sector, which is used for inpatients or staff in the health system, will be unaffected,” it added.

Test capacity will remain at level five until the government presents a new testing strategy for the rest of 2022 along with next winter, the critical supplies authority also said.

In March, the Danish Health Authority changed its recommendations on when people with suspected Covid-19 should be tested for the coronavirus, with testing now only recommended if there is a “special medical reason” for doing so.

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