Slovakia began yesterday a programme to screen its entire population for coronavirus in what would be a global first, but medical professionals have warned it could lead to an increase in cases.
Some 45,000 medical workers, army and police are being deployed to carry out the tests in the EU member state of 5.4mn people, collecting swabs at around 5,000 testing points.
Socially-distanced queues could be seen forming in the streets of the capital Bratislava even before the points opened at 0600 GMT.
“The world will be watching,” Prime Minister Igor Matovic said this week.
He said the measure would save “hundreds of lives”.
The programme will use antigen tests, which give quick results – within minutes.
But antigen tests are not seen as being as reliable as the PCR test for which nasal and throat swabs have to be sent to a lab for analysis.
Participation in the testing is not mandatory but anyone who is not able to produce a negative test certificate if stopped by police could get a heavy fine.
Anyone who tests positive has to go immediately into quarantine for 10 days.
“This will be our road to freedom,” Matovic said, hinting that virus restrictions could be eased once testing is complete, or reinforced if the programme is not carried out in full.
As of noon (1100 GMT), 828,518 people had been tested and 7,947 were positive, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad told a news conference.
“We have clearly got to more than 1mn (as of 1500 GMT) – people’s interest continues,” he said, adding that more than 3mn people may be tested over the course of the weekend.
Slovakia would be the first country of its size to undergo nationwide testing, although mass testing has taken place in entire Chinese cities.
Smaller European states such as Luxembourg and Monaco have also announced mass testing programmes.
Like other countries, Slovakia has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases although it is below the EU average.
On Friday, it reported a record 3,363 new daily infections, followed by 2,573 yesterday.
The total now stands at 57,664, with 219 deaths.
The government is hoping to complete the nationwide testing over two days and carry out another round of mass tests next weekend.
But it has struggled to find medical workers to staff all the testing sites and has been forced to offer cash bonuses for doctors.
During pilot testing in four high-risk regions last weekend, people had to queue for up to two hours in some cases.
The Slovak Association of General Practitioners has criticised the government’s plan, saying that it is ill-prepared.
The association said that the “mass concentration of millions of people” at testing sites “is at odds with the recommendations of infectious disease experts to reduce public contacts and mobility as much as possible”.
Many ordinary people – like Radovan Babincak, an unemployed man living in the capital Bratislava – want to stay away.
“The government and the prime minister are threatening people,” the 40-year-old told AFP.
Anton Dubovsky, a 67-year-old petrol station operator, said he and his son would not go.
“I am not convinced this testing is a good idea at all,” he said.
Martin Janosik, a 44-year-old entrepreneur, said he had taken part so his son would be allowed to attend school.
“I did not have much of a choice, but I did not think much about it,” he told Reuters at a testing centre in Trencin, a city north of the capital Bratislava. “It is also good for me and for my company, if I am healthy I can be there and take people around.”
People queue to be tested for the coronavirus, during a nationwide programme, in Bratislava.
