Amsterdam to introduce rapid breath test, other locations will follow

The four large corona test locations in Amsterdam will introduce a breath test next week. This rapid breath test will also become available in the rest of the Netherlands in the coming months.

All visitors to the test locations will be given a breath test starting next week, which will show a result within a few minutes. With the so-called SpiroNose, it can be determined with a 70 percent certainty that the person is not infected with the coronavirus.

For the other 30 percent, a follow-up test must then be done, in which a cotton swab is put in the throat and nose. The results of those tests will follow within a few days.

In recent weeks, the municipal health center in Amsterdam has already been experimenting with SpiroNose at the Buikslotermeerplein location in Amsterdam-Noord. Because it now appears that it works well, it will also be introduced at the test location in the RAI from Monday. Zuidoost and Sloterdijk will follow later in the week.

"From Monday, about 600 breath tests per day can be done in Amsterdam," says the municipality. "In the coming weeks, that number will go to more than 2500 breath tests per day."

The company Breathomix developed the device, after which the Leiden University Medical Center and the municipal health center GGD Amsterdam tested it extensively. The GGD hopes that this new way will increase people's willingness to get tested.