COVID-19 tests in Venezuela, a luxury that few can access
A patient with symptoms of COVID-19 in Venezuela has to have between 40 and 100 dollars to pay for an analysis to determine if he has contracted the disease, or, otherwise, to travel through public centers in search of an unlikely free exam or opt finally by self-diagnosis. 
Direct diagnostic tests, whether it is an RT-PCR or antigen test, are the way to corroborate the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the body, but several specialists have expressed concern about the difficulties that Venezuelans are experiencing to access these studies for free.
And it is that the Venezuelan monthly minimum wage is 7 bolívares, which is equivalent to 1.5 dollars, an amount with which no citizen can pay the costs of a COVID-19 analysis and, much less, the treatment to alleviate the disease.
The president of the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases, Manuel Figuera, is aware of this difficulty and recalled that the State must guarantee these free tests, "something that, unfortunately, it has not done", leaving citizens defenseless against the pandemic.
Figuera assured that currently patients with symptoms of COVID-19 must visit different Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers (CDI, outpatient clinics), public hospitals and Social Security offices to find a place where the covid-19 test is applied, since the tests are not regularly available at these centers.
“In the past, even in private centers they were doing tests of this type and they stopped doing them for a long time. Nowadays, unfortunately, people mainly have private tests that, from the epidemiological-statistical point of view, are not included in the national statistics, ”said the also infectologist.
Thus, the specialist added the problem of underreporting of positive cases to limited access to tests to rule out COVID-19. Figuera referred to the emergence of new laboratories that work in commercial offices, hotels and even parking lots and offer the COVID-19 test without the data of positive cases being sent to the request of the National Executive, which ignores these results from its official count.
This is one of the reasons why, in recent days, the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases recommended expanding the free availability of direct, antigenic or molecular tests such as PCR-RT, to detect COVID-19.
The doctors issued a statement in which they highlighted the importance of "expanding the free availability of tests" for COVID-19 detection, "so that symptomatic people and their contacts can be isolated in a timely manner in case of positivity", since the lack of diagnosis also influences the spread of the virus. 
"The most important thing is that the person who has symptoms from the first day should take a test and not wait, because, if a positive case is detected from the first day and is isolated, you will avoid further infections," said Figuera.
Andrea González, a 27-year-old Venezuelan journalist, experienced the journey of contracting COVID-19 and not being able to afford the expenses caused by the virus.
Her symptoms appeared in the first days of 2022, when González's economic situation was not good. She had only $100 when she and her partner got sick and she had to choose between buying medicine, food and personal items or paying for tests to confirm they had COVID-19.
“The hardest thing was getting the test, because I was able to pay for it, but not everyone can pay $25 for a test. Now imagine paying $100 for a molecular test, because I did the quick one and that is not 100 percent reliable (…) One is already wrong, ”she explains.
In the best-known laboratories in Caracas, an RT-PCR test costs $80 for adults and $100 for children under 12 years of age.
As for antigen tests, the cost is $40 for adults and $60 for children under 12 years of age.
All costs in laboratories are expressed in US currency and citizens can pay in foreign currency or at the exchange rate in bolivars.
But, Venezuelans who do not even have to pay for the least expensive of the tests, are forced to show off the disease, save a few days of rest and hope that the COVID-19 leaves their body as it came, without leaving a trace.
With information from EFE
