Romanian healthcare network Regina Maria starts testing frontline medical staff for COVID-19 antibodies

Private healthcare network Regina Maria announced that it had started the immunological testing of the frontline medical staff in Romania.

Thus, healthcare workers from both COVID-19 hospitals and other state medical facilities will benefit during the state of emergency of free testing of the immune response to the new coronavirus infection.

“After performing over 16,000 diagnostic tests (RT-PCR) so far, both for public hospitals and as part of the national program and in collaboration with public and private institutions, we now begin free immunological testing of first-line medical staff,” said Fady Chreih, CEO Regina Maria.

He also said that testing would be done in the Regina Maria labs in Bucharest and Brasov. Then, the testing capacity will be expanded to all 29 labs of the Regina Maria network.

Over 1,000 healthcare workers in Romania have been infected with the new coronavirus so far. Testing them is essential for determining the immune response to the infection of those declared cured.

Starting May 16, the serological testing will also be available upon request for a fee.

“We have an extensive capacity for serological testing of IgM and IgG antibodies, and together with our partners, Roche Diagnostics and Abbott Laboratories, we are ready to perform up to 1 million tests by the end of the year,” Fady Chreih also said.

The two serological tests for the determination of IgG and IgM COVID-19 antibodies are complementary. These are useful to indicate people who have developed an immune response to COVID-19 infection.

(Photo source: Regina Maria)