In the debate about the free tests in Austria, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) wants at least to take the living room tests out of the game from November. The free delivery of corona self-tests by pharmacies is to expire at the end of October, Mückstein announced in a broadcast. In addition, by then he wants to evaluate whether asymptomatic people can continue to be tested for the corona virus free of charge in pharmacies.
The free living room tests and the free tests at pharmacies and medical house pharmacies are actually limited to the end of August. Mückstein has now announced that it will want to extend the rules by ordinance at least until the end of October. On November 1, the dispensing of the free antigen self-tests in pharmacies is to expire. These were previously also valid as evidence of the “3G” status, provided they were recorded in a reporting system of the federal states – with the exception of Vienna, where they are considered to be insufficiently reliable and have therefore not been recognized since July. According to the ministry, the more reliable PCR self-tests are not affected by the change.
From the extension until the end of October, Mückstein expects a “smooth transition”. “Now we have to give people enough time to get the 1st and 2nd trick,” said Mückstein in a broadcast. He also announced that by the end of October it would also evaluate how the free tests of asymptomatic people in pharmacies and general practitioners will continue. NEOS and ÖVP politicians are calling for an end to the free tests for people who voluntarily refrain from vaccination against Covid-19.
However, the President of the Chamber of Pharmacists, Ulrike Mursch-Edlmayr, welcomed the extension of the free tests that Mückstein had announced. “The extension of these low-threshold test options close to home in the pharmacies around the corner makes a decisive contribution to preventing the virus from spreading again unnoticed in the population at the start of the new school year and the colder season,” she said in a joint broadcast with the minister .
It is not known exactly how much the corona test campaign has cost so far. In July, Mückstein spoke of costs well over a billion euros.
How the new living room tests work
Starting next week, “living room tests” will also be used as admission tickets. The state has launched its own platform for this purpose and equips every household with test kits.
