Romania’s Public Health Institute updates recommendations for priority Covid-19 testing

The National Institute for Public Health (INSP) has updated the case definitions for the new coronavirus and the recommendations concerning those prioritized for Covid-19 testing, News.ro reported.

On the list of priority testing are people with symptoms, including healthcare workers and auxiliary staff, and their contacts.

Asymptomatic patients undergoing a transplant need to be tested at most 48 hours before the transplant procedure. Organ, tissue, and stem cell donors also need to be tested as are transplant patients undergoing treatment with immunosuppressive drugs, before every hospital admission in their post-transplant monitoring period – two tests 24 hours apart. The medical teams in charge of organ harvesting who move from the transplant centers to the harvesting centers need to be tested every two weeks.

Asymptomatic patients with immunosuppression need to be tested at most 48 hours before the hospital admission.

Asymptomatic oncology patients who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy are also on the list. They need to get tested at most 48 hours before every treatment round or hospital visit for monitoring. Asymptomatic oncology patients undergoing radiotherapy need to get tested before the first round and every 14 days until the treatment course is over. Asymptomatic oncology patients who are about to undergo surgery need to get tested at most 48 hours before the intervention. In the case of children, the person accompanying them for treatment also needs to get tested.

Asymptomatic patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment need to get tested two times per month. Those who came in contact with a confirmed case need to undergo two tests six-seven days apart and undergo dialysis separate from the rest of the patients. Hemodialysis patients showing symptoms will get tested.

Institutionalized people not showing symptoms will be tested two times a month, as will the staff providing care in residential facilities.

Asymptomatic pregnant women who are under quarantine, isolation at home or have been in contact with a confirmed case need to get tested after two weeks if they did no show symptoms.

The healthcare and auxiliary staff who came into contact with a confirmed Covid-19 test case need to get tested on the 6th or 7th day from the last contact that could have led to the infection.

The recommendations can be revised if the epidemiological context changes, INSP said.