The months of travel make the German laboratories difficult to cope with. Dilek Kalayci, Berlin's Senator for Health, reports that the test capacities are reaching their limits and that the material is becoming scarce. This is due to the numerous tests carried out by those returning from the journey, such as aero.de reported.
“We are currently at 93 percent,” admits the SPD politician. But not only the laboratories in the federal capital are concerned. According to the epidemological bulletin of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), 64 of 157 laboratories in Germany stated that a backlog had formed in the week from 10 to 16 August. In total, this concerned 17.142 samples to be processed. In addition, 41 laboratories stated that they had delivery problems for reagents.
Dennoch verteidigt Gesundheitssenatorin Kalayci den Beschluss der Gesundheitsminister, Tests für Reiserückkehrer einzuführen. „Es war Konsens, bundesweit hier einen Fokus zu setzen, weil wir über die Reiserückkehrenden ein Einschleppungsrisiko gesehen haben. Die Zahlen in Berlin und bundesweit in den letzten Wochen bestätigten das auch.“
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