Mass testing of population for coronavirus to be launched
Government puts forward program to carry out 170,000 covid-19 tests over six weeks in Catalonia
The Catalan government has put forward the idea of mass testing of the population for the covid-19 coronavirus.
After the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, the executive's spokesperson, Meritxell Budó, explained that a new program called Orfeu will enable the use of PCR machines that are already in research centers to make 170,000 covid-19 tests in Catalonia over six weeks.
The program implies a €1.4 million spending of public money.
According to Budó, the capacity of the rate of tests might go up if necessary.
Three research centers will join this project in its first phase: the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB).
The program will be in force "for as much time as needed" and the research centers in charge of the tests will work on a 24/7 basis.
According to the government, this will help better isolate patients, reduce the transmissions rate and contribute to the return of workers in charge of essential workers.