People wait in line at a free coronavirus disease antigen test centre, where getting to the front of the line took about an hour and a half, in central Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 23, 2021.COPENHAGEN/LONDON — For many people worldwide, having cotton swabs thrust up their nose or down their throat to test for Covid-19 has become a routine and familiar annoyance.
"We've tested so much more than other countries that we might have overdone it," said Jens Lundgren, professor of infectious diseases at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, and member of the government's covid advisory group. The WHO urged countries to "test, test, test" all suspected cases after the coronavirus was first identified. Global surveillance helped scientists understand the risk of severe illness or death, as well as the risk of transmission.
In the last two years, Denmark's population of 5.8 million logged more than 127 million rapid and PCR tests, all provided free. In total, Denmark spent more than 16 billion crowns on testing, according to the Danish Critical Supply Agency. "The mass testing approach took away the focus from testing where it really matters: among the vulnerable."
Other disease experts question such estimates. A review published in Medical Virology in late March on the use of rapid tests for people without symptoms in mass screening initiatives found "uncertainty" over their impact.