France Plans to Detect Many Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers by Mass Testing After May 11

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2020) Many asymptomatic COVID-19 cases will be detected after May 11, when the French authorities plan to carry out massive testing of the population under the lockdown exit strategy, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday.

"Anyone reporting symptoms will be tested and if the test positive, we will go back up the chain of contacts of that person and so we will test those who came into close contact with that person. Thus, we are going to test a lot of asymptomatic people, " Philippe said at a briefing at the National Assembly.

The prime minister added that, according to official estimates, 3,000 new COVID-19 infections on average are detected daily, which require around 525,000 tests per week.

Under the lockdown exit strategy, announced by Philippe on Tuesday, the government plans to conduct 700,000 tests weekly beginning on May 11. The prime minister said on Wednesday that under these estimates, the authorities can still test the most vulnerable citizens, especially those living in retirement homes.

As of Wednesday, France has registered 169,053 coronavirus cases, with 23,694 fatalities and 47,775 recoveries.