COVID-19 testing : General practitioners, private nurses and chemists to take over from today

©Direction de la Communication - Michael Alesi

The mass testing campaign offered by the Prince’s Government to Monegasque nationals, residents and employees concluded on Tuesday 14 July.

The free, voluntary campaign was launched on Tuesday 19 May and operated from the Grimaldi Forum and Espace Leo Ferré. Subsequently, catch-up sessions were organised every Tuesday in June and early July.

Around 36,000 people received a rapid diagnostic test during the campaign.

With this in mind, the Prince’s Government believes that the effort begun two months ago should be continued, since testing has helped to control the spread of the epidemic. 

It has therefore asked private doctors and nurses, and city chemists to carry out rapid diagnostic testing to identify SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for anyone who wants it. This will help to keep testing numbers as high as possible. This new approach will take effect from Wednesday 15 July.

The health professionals involved have received prior training from the Monaco Red Cross at the request of the Government.

In terms of practical arrangements, patients will first need to complete an authorisation to have a capillary blood sample taken for rapid diagnostic testing. This will be based on the one used at the testing centres.

Medical monitoring of positive cases will be provided directly by the Department of Health Affairs.

Patients will be responsible for meeting the cost of tests, according to a strictly defined pricing policy:

• for tests carried out by nurses or chemists, the fees due by the person tested under these provisions include a fixed component of ten euros, which is the cost of the diagnostic test, and a component for carrying out the test, which must not exceed fifteen euros. 
• for tests carried out by private doctors, the fees due by the person tested under these provisions include the same fixed component of ten euros plus the cost of the consultation.

These blood tests contribute to epidemiological surveillance of the disease and the diagnostic strategy, supplementing the virological (PCR) tests, which are used to diagnose active COVID-19.