France: What has happened to Covid saliva tests?
Health authorities in France have only given partial backing to the method which has been in development since March, despite support from regional politicians for more widespread use
A saliva test developed in Montpellier should be used more widely to detect Covid-19, the president of the Grand Est regional council, Jean Rottner, said this week.
Saliva tests are less intrusive than PCR and antigen tests that are carried out via a nasal swab. They can also deliver results in 40 minutes.
'Fast, cheap, painless': Covid saliva test from French lab
The Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) confirmed on November 28 that they could be used but only for patients showing symptoms of Covid-19 and who are not able to get tested via a nasal swab for health reasons.
The HAS has said that the saliva tests are not reliable enough to be used on asymptomatic patients.
“The HAS has been blocking [them] for many weeks or even months, but it is important to get them where the virus is circulating, as in high schools and universities, where they could be used rapidly and frequently,” Mr Rottner said in an interview with FranceInfo on Tuesday, December 8.
He said he was willing to buy the equipment to carry out the tests himself.
The tests, named EasyCov, have been developed by a laboratory in Montpellier, Sys2Diag, along with researchers at the CHU hospital there. They began work on them in March.
The HAS wrote in its November 28 report on EasyCov that the tests have an accuracy of 84% in detecting Covid-19 in symptomatic patients, which is “satisfying”.
However, its specificity rate - the percentage of negative results the saliva tests reveal among cases identified as positive by PCR tests - is 92%, below the HAS’ threshold of 99%.
This conclusion has been contested by the CEO of SkillCell, a laboratory that has worked with Sys2Diag to commercialise the tests.
Alexandra Prieux Lejeune said that the HAS was relying on PCR tests being 100% accurate which she claims is not the case. SkillCell states that EasyCov has a specificity rate of 99%.
In October, Sys2Diag director Franck Molina said that “between now and 2021, PCR tests will completely disappear. They will be replaced by our new testing technique”.
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