Mass testing was an expensive undertaking, Slovakia spent hundreds of millions on it

Each person identified as Covid-positive using a rapid antigen test in April cost the state nearly 3,000 euros.

In December, when the second wave of the pandemic was surging in Slovakia, the price per one revealed Covid-positive person was 17-times lower, at €177. This is because currently, there are fewer people infected with the coronavirus in Slovakia.

The state has not yet published the price tag of the mass testing that formally continues around the country, even though in most districts people are no longer required to have proof of a negative test in most life situations. Lucia Plaváková of the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia published on Friday, April 30, the costs of the testing based on information she received from the Finance Ministry. The final price that covers the entire pandemic is €478 million, but it also includes the costs of PCR testing.

Antigen testing cost hundreds of millions