The Brussels Region's overall weekly testing capacity for the new coronavirus (Covid-19) is being increased, Brussels Health Minister Alain Maron says on Friday.
More concretely, this capacity - calculated by opening hours - will be increased from 255 hours to 430 hours, which is an increase of 69%.
Particular attention is being paid to weekends, Maron said. This increase will be effective as of this Friday at 2:00 PM at the Saint-Pierre University Hospital (CHU Saint-Pierre) and as of this weekend at Synlab. Other openings and extensions of time slots are still under discussion.
"Over the last few days, particularly due to holiday departures and returns, the testing capacities in the Brussels Region have been put under pressure,” Maron said in a press release.
This is why he “has called for the supply to be adapted to the needs, with the aim of ensuring sufficient proximity for all those needing a test and to relieve hospitals and general practitioners of low-risk patients, in particular tourists wishing to go abroad.”
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People without symptoms who are preparing to go on holiday can be tested at 17 locations, including Clinique Sainte-Anne Saint-Rémi in Anderlecht, the Cliniques Saint-Jean near Botanique, and the Brugmann Brien University Hospital (CHU Brugmann Brien) in Schaerbeek.
Meanwhile, people with symptoms for the new coronavirus can be tested in 19 laboratories in the Region, such as the CHU Saint-Pierre in Brussels and the Saint-Luc University clinics in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.
The complete list of testing centres will be made available here over the course of the day.
"Respect for quarantine is fundamental to control and contain the spread of the epidemic,” Maron added in conclusion. “We are all responsible for not infecting others.”
The Brussels Times
