Brussels test centres offer tests without prescription
Coronavirus test centres in the Belgian and Flemish capital are now offering tests with no need for a doctor’s prescription, though the tests do have to be paid for.
Under present regulations free tests are usually not available to being who are not at risk or don’t have symptoms. Until now tests without a prescription were only available from a limited number of labs. This has now been expanded to include all seven test centres in Brussels.
Inge Neven of the Brussels health service: “It’s handy for some businesses and municipal authorities to get their staff tested even if they don’t qualify for a prescription. There are people who need to travel for work and require a certificate. We have no plans to back these tests with lots of promotion. People with symptoms deserve priority.”
“We’re able to make this test, which has to be paid for, available in Brussels test centres because fewer tests are now being carried out and we now have the capacity. We can perform 9,900 tests a day at the seven Brussels test centres. Today the average number of tests carried out is 2,200. That’s because until now we’ve only been testing people with symptoms. Today we have extra capacity.”