PARIS — France is setting up a scientific committee to look into changing the governments coronavirus testing strategy from limited testing to a more systematic approach.
“The committees objective will be to advise the government on programs and doctrine relative to treatment, testing and backtracking practices that enable the identification of people in contact with those infected by the COVID-19 virus,” a statement from President Emmanuel Macrons office said.
There has been increasing criticism in France of the governments decision not to test widely and systematically, despite the benefits such a strategy has shown in South Korea. French government officials have so far downplayed the effectiveness of wider testing, while critics accuse them of doing so to hide a shortage of test kits.
On Monday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in addition to confinement measures, countries need “to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics — testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and tracing and quarantining every close contact.”
An official in Macrons office would not confirm France was changing its strategy in response to the WHO guidelines but rather that the testing policy “is being refined and ramped up ahead of an end to confinement.”
But an end to confinement is not currently on the table. InsteRead More – Source
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