Germany eyes antigen tests to keep elderly safe from virusAs Europe tries to break a surge in coronavirus infections, Germany is betting on a new type of test to protect vulnerable populations
November 3, 2020, 10:28 AM
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NOTIFIED: Nov. 4, 2020
BERLIN -- As Europe tries to break a surge in coronavirus infections, Germany is counting on a new type of test to avoid closing nursing homes to visitors, a move that caused considerable anguish among residents and relatives in the spring.
So-called antigen tests, which look for a specific protein on the virus, were first launched months ago. They are cheap and fast, but experts said at the time they are also less accurate than the standard PCR test, which detects even the tiniest genetic trace of the virus.
Still, Germany — which has managed to contain the spread of the outbreak better than many of its neighbors — announced recently that it is bulk-buying millions of antigen tests each month.
“We have a new strategy," Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Monday. “We can now basically perform rapid tests on visitors to nursing and care homes.”
Nursing homes will receive up to 20 free monthly tests per resident. These can be used to test patients, staff and — crucially — visiting relatives, who might be unwitting carriers of COVID-19, posing a potentially devastating threat.
“Health insurers will cover the costs for a certain number of visitors each month,” Merkel said. "That’s huge progress in terms of protection.”
Germany has one of the world’s oldest populations. More than 24 million people are 60 or older and about 900,000 people live in nursing homes. A further 2.5 million younger people have serious disabilities.
That means almost 30% of Germany's population of 83 million are particularly vulnerable to the virus, Merkel said.
“Almost everyone knows somebody they don't want to infect," she said.
Germany has reported about 550,000 coronavirus cases — less than half the number recorded in Britain, Spain and France. Germany's confirmed virus death toll of 10,669 is also one-fourth of Britain's.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman told The Associated Press that manufacturers have agreed to supply Germany with 9 million antigen tests in November and 11.5 million tests in December.
Experts caution that while antigen tests have become more accurate, they should not be seen as a replacement for the standard PCR method.
Scientists in Switzerland recently scrutinized two widely available antigen tests, sold by Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories and Swiss pharma giant Roche. The researchers concluded that out of 100 people infected with the virus, only between 85 and 89 tested positive using the antigen method.
“It does fulfill the criteria that are published by the (World Health Organization), which should be more than 80% sensitivity,” said Isabella Eckerle, who heads the Center for Emerging Viral Diseases at the University of Geneva, where the tests were validated.
While the tests are less accurate, they provide quick results, she noted.
“One big advantage of these tests would be that you, for example, can build up a decentralized testing center,” Eckerle told The AP. “So you build up a tent, let’s say, in front of a school or in a park, and then people can come. And then after 15 minutes, they will know if they are positive or not.”
The tests still need to be carried out by a person qualified to take a nasal swab, however.
“This test is not a home test," she said. "It’s nothing that you can do in your home before you visit your grandmother.”
Sandra Ciesek, who heads the Institute of Medical Virology at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, says the PCR test remains the "gold standard” for now.
But Christian Drosten, one of Germany’s most prominent virologists who developed one the first PCR tests for COVID-19, has suggested that the antigen method has its uses if people take into account its limitations.
One distinct feature of the new coronavirus is its ability to multiply rapidly in the throat of newly infected hosts, causing them to spread the virus days before they show symptoms. By the time most people are diagnosed, the amount of virus they are expelling when they speak or even breathe has dropped significantly.
