Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď presents the results of the second round of mass testing. (source: TASR)
Altogether 2,044,855 people got tested in the second round of the mass testing with antigen tests, which took place in 45 Slovak districts on November 7-8, with 13,509 people or 0.66 percent receiving a positive result.
The second round took place only in the districts where the share of positive tests was higher than 0.7 percent.
“We’ve concluded the largest logistics action in the history of Slovakia,” PM Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) told the November 9 press conference.
Nearly 21,000 soldiers, police officers, firefighters, rescuers, health-care workers and administrative workers were involved in the testing that, together with the pilot, took place over the past three weekends, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď (OĽaNO) added.
The most in Púchov and Stará Ľubovňa
The lowest share of positive test results was reported in the districts of Zvolen and Medzilaborce (0.28 percent each).
While after the first round there were 45 districts with a positive rate above 0.7 percent, only 15 were left after the second round. The worst situation is in the districts of Púchov (1.65 percent) and Stará Ľubovňa (1.3 percent), which are the only ones with the share of positive cases above 1 percent.
The highest turnout was in the Dunajská Streda district, nearly 90 percent. One of the reasons was probably the fact that people from the neighbouring districts (as it was the only one in south-western Slovakia where the testing took place) came to get tested. The lowest turnout was in the Stará Ľubovňa district.
Continue to be careful
It will take some time until it is possible to assess the impact of the whole project, said chief hygienist Ján Mikas. Still, he appreciated that due to the tests, the most infectious people were caught, so they prevented the massive spread of the disease.
“People should not become lazy and less careful, though,” Mikas said, stressing that it is still necessary to follow basic hygienic rules.
