December 14th local time, the Austrian Ministry of Health, An Schaubert, said that the first round of large-scale coronavirus testing was nearing completion.
About 2 million residents of the country participated in the testing, of whom about 4,200 tested positive for the novel coronavirus antigen. Anschobel stressed that the first round of testing is a good start and an important link in curbing the COVID-19 epidemic in Austria.
Austria first tested educators on December 5 and 6, and the police on December 7 and 8, followed by a large-scale testing in the Länder.
Anschobel said that large-scale COVID-19 testing can detect a large number of asymptomatic infections, thus reducing the spread of the virus and making the epidemic prevention clearer.
On the same day, Austrian Defense Minister Claudia Tanner also said that large-scale testing will successfully prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in the home, schools, workplace and the police force, and testing will continue in the new year.
It is reported that Austria has about 8.9 million residents, compared with less than 25% of the first round of large-scale testing, compared with 60% of the residents that the Austrian government wanted to participate in the test.
The second round of large-scale testing will begin from January 8 to 10 next year. In order to attract more residents to participate in the test, the Austrian government is considering an “incentive system”.
