The stores of the German distribution giant Aldi were offering packages of five rapid tests at 25 euros per box starting this Saturday
The first rapid over-the-counter tests in Germany were sold out in minutes this Saturday at the Aldi supermarket chain, which has been selling them since Saturday, several German media reported.
The stores of the German distribution giant were offering from today, as they had announced throughout this week, packages of five rapid tests at 25 euros per box.
According to “Zeit”, in different branches of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg the tests had been exhausted minutes after seven in the morning, the opening time. Similar information has come from other cities.
German media have also released images of queues at the door of Aldi supermarkets, at dawn, with masks and shopping carts in the parking lots, before they opened their doors.
The queues were already at dawn before the supermarkets opened
Aldi, which, aware of the potential demand, had limited the amount of test containers that each customer could buy, has advanced that it will replace it shortly.
The rival chain Lidl, which also began offering rapid coronavirus tests this Saturday but only on its website, suffered problems with the server due to an excess of visits.
In the next few days, other large German distribution chains, such as Rewe and Edeka, as well as the drugstores dm and Rossmann, are expected to start marketing the rapid tests as well. Pharmacies have also indicated their intention to sell them.
The rapid tests are, together with the vaccination campaign, a key pillar of the de-escalation strategy of the German Government. The Executive believes that the massive use of these tests will help to detect those infected more quickly and will cut the chains of infections.
Germany registered 9,557 new cases and 300 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours in the previous 24 hours, figures slightly lower than those recorded the previous Saturday.
The cumulative incidence in the last seven days throughout the country amounts to 65.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which means that this variable remains stable. In comparison, the cumulative incidence yesterday was 65.4 and a week ago, 63.8.
In total, Germany has 2,492,079 infected people, of which about 2,299,400 have recovered, and 71,804 deaths from Sars-CoV2.
According to data this Friday, Germany has vaccinated 4.915 million people, of which only 2.410 million have received the two doses (2.9% of the population).