A correspondence from the Secretary General to the Presidency of the Republic dated 6 April and addressed to the service of the First Ministry sets the price of PCR screening tests against Covid-19.
On "very high instructions from the President of the Republic", the tests against the coronavirus will now be paid. The flat rate is set at 30,000 FCFA.
Until now, the cost of PCR tests was covered by the state. Provided they are carried out in centres approved by the Ministry of Public Health.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, testing challenges have fueled corruption networks. Circuits for the purchase of false negative tests by people wishing to travel have emerged.
The Covid-19 PCR test is performed from a sample of nasal secretions or saliva. It is then analyzed in the laboratory to detect the presence of the coronavirus genome. It allows a virological diagnosis during the acute phase of Covid-19: in other words, it can detect if the patient is a carrier of the virus at the time of the test, but does not inform about a possible previous contamination.
