[The Dutch covid-19 testing policy urgently needs revision].

A self-test suffices for the diagnosis SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Netherlands since 11 April 2022. Yet, selected groups such as health care workers can still divert to the Public Health Services (PHS) SARS-CoV-2 testing facilities for a nucleic acid amplification test. A survey among 2257 subjects visiting PHS Kennemerland testing sites demonstrates that the majority of participants does however not belong to one of the selected groups.

Similar Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Oropharyngeal/Nasopharyngeal and Saliva Samples on the Hologic Panther Platform.

Background: Oropharyngeal (OP) and nasopharyngeal (NP) sampling has historically been considered the reference specimen type used for respiratory virus detection. Saliva could be a less invasive alternative for SARS-CoV-2 detection, but limited evidence is available.

Methods: The technical and clinical performance of saliva was compared to OP/NP on the Hologic Panther platform with two Aptima assays, the End-Point Transcription-Mediated Amplification assay (EP-TMA) and Real-Time Transcription-Mediated Amplification assay (RT-TMA).