Matovic: Number of Tests for Coronavirus Will Grow

Bratislava, March 27 (TASR) – As private laboratories are now helping the state ones to process samples taken for detecting people ill with COVID-19, Slovakia could test 4,000 people daily within ten days, Prime Minister Igor Matovic and Health Minister Marek Krajci (both OLaNO) announced on Friday.

“Up to this point, we’ve been artificially carrying out too few tests per day and thus we lived in the lie that [Slovakia] has been doing great [because the number of new positive cases each day was rather low]. To overcome the crisis, it’s much better to be honest with ourselves, there might be days when we’ll have 100 new positive cases,” stated Matovic.

Krajci explained that his ministry has introduced an on-line system thanks to which medical facilities will be able to report how many face masks they need and how many they’ve used. Matovic added that every medical facility which will register in the system will be supplied with medical items by Sunday, March 29.

Speaking of Roma settlements in Slovakia, Matovic conceded that if a large-scale coronavirus outbreak takes place in the country, it will happen especially in these settlements. According to the prime minister, one infected person in a Roma settlement could transmit the disease to another 20 persons.