This is a major contribution that will be presented to European leaders at their informal meeting on the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12640/1). The ambassadors of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) adopted on Wednesday 20 January a recommendation on the use of antigenic tests and the validation and mutual recognition of antigenic and PCR tests (see EUROPE 12626/2).
This text, which has yet to be formally adopted at a ministerial meeting of the EU Council, supports the idea of standardised screening certificates.
It also takes up the idea of the European Commission to draw up a European list of antigenic tests considered “appropriate”. However, it raises the minimum sensitivity criterion to 90%, instead of the 80% set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The other criteria remain affixing the CE labelling, specificity above 97%, and recognition in at least one Member State. It further stipulates that this list will have to be updated according to the ability of the tests to detect mutations in the virus.
The recommendation stresses that rapid antigenic tests are useful for confirming the presence of the virus in symptomatic cases “within the first 5 days after the onset of symptoms”; for testing contacts of positive cases “within the first 7 days after contact”; for testing outbreaks; and for testing high-risk or highly affected areas (i.e., those with a rate of positive tests of more than 10%).
Regarding the use of antigenic tests, the document still recommends that these be carried out by health professionals. However, it adds that self-screening could be considered provided that research supports this scenario.
Quarantine. On the other hand, it will be necessary to wait before seeing the emergence of a common approach on the duration of quarantines, the other thorny issue started by the European leaders in the coordination of health measures (see EUROPE 12589/2).
“Quarantines are a very complicated debate. There is no consensus in the scientific community, which makes the political decision more complicated”, one European official told EUROPE. “But there are attempts to move towards a more harmonised system”, he added, without much conviction (see EUROPE 12555/27).
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) supports a quarantine period of 14 days, which can be reduced to 10 days, if a test carried out on the tenth day is negative. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)