The number of tests for Covid-19 carried out in diagnostic medicine laboratories of the private network fell by 28%, between January 31 and February 6, 2022, compared to the previous week. The data is from the Brazilian Association of Diagnostic Medicine (Abramed), which brings together more than 60% of laboratories in the country.
In total, 282,000 tests were performed in this period. The average positivity rate, according to the association, also dropped from 60% to 50% this week.
The peak of demand for diagnostic tests for Covid-19 was the previous week, between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when 390,000 tests were carried out.
This Wednesday (09), the new Epidemiological Bulletin of Covid-19, released by the Municipal Health Department of the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro, points to a drop in confirmed cases, in addition to the reduction in the positivity rate that, during the peak period , between the 12th and 14th of January, it surpassed 40% and, on the 6th of February, it dropped to 17.6%.
In the first fifteen days of January this year, primary care units and testing centers performed more than 100,000 tests a day. But last Thursday (03), only 11,000 tests were carried out.
Due to the drop in the number of cases of coronavirus infection, some free testing centers in the capital were demobilized.
According to the municipal secretary of Health, Daniel Soranz, Rio de Janeiro intends to apply a second booster dose of vaccines against Covid-19 to the general population in about a year after receiving the third dose.
The establishment of the campaign, however, depends on research and studies on the subject. For immunosuppressed people, the fourth dose of the vaccine will be available four months after the application of the third dose.
Source: CNN Brasil
