In December of this year, only 150,000 Covid-19 rapid antigen tests were sold in Belgian pharmacies, compared to 1.5 million in the previous year. These figures come from the Belgian pharmaceutical association APB.
On Friday, the RTBF posed itself a question: how many Belgians would be taking a Covid-19 test in the run up to the Christmas holidays?
A mainstay of recent end-of-year periods due to the pandemic and the virus' subsequent waves, a recent excursion by the RTBF to the Walloon city of Charleroi had made them wonder whether the popularity of these rapid antigen tests had waned in 2022. A man they met in the streets, for example, told them that "we won't be taking any self-tests this year, as we're all vaccinated.
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To that end, the French-speaking outlet asked the Belgian pharmaceutical association APB to provide them with the number of self-tests having been bought in pharmacies towards the end of the year.
In 2022, "we were at an average of 1.5 million tests sold in November and December, where as these figures are now divided by 10!" With them reaching 150,000 sales in December 2022.
That being said, the association reminded that other ailments are currently circulating across the country, with a flu epidemic having been recently declared in Belgium.
