Circle K have become the second major Irish outlet to sell Covid-19 antigen tests after they announced the arrival in all stores from this weekend.
Antigen tests are now available in select locations from Friday, with the company saying they will be on sale in all Circle K stores (excluding Express) from Saturday.
Tests are priced at €8 for an individual test, with two tests for €14 and three tests for €20.
Circle K say: "The antigen test product has been manufactured in Germany and is being supplied through award winning, Irish pharmaceutical company, MyBio, an exclusive supplier of many of the world’s leading bioscience reagents and rapid tests to the Irish market. The test is easy to administer and provides results within 15 minutes. It is designed for the rapid qualitative determination of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen.
"EU certified, the antigen test has a 97.83% accuracy rate in detecting proteins of the virus and has shown to be effective in detection of symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers. It is not intended as the sole basis to diagnose or exclude a COVID-19 case."
The test kit includes detailed step-by-step instructions and a guide on how to accurately interpret results.
Gordon Lawlor, Managing Director, Circle K Ireland commented, “As society continues to reopen and with strong progress on the vaccine rollout front, we feel there is a demand for access to antigen testing products to help further manage the risk associated with this virus.”
“We see the use of antigen tests as a complementary additional safety measure alongside the existing public health advice and Government guidance. It is really important that customers continue to abide by these measures and exercise good judgement when it comes to the usage of antigen tests.”
Earlier this year, Lidl began stocking antigen tests on their shelves, leading to criticism from NPHET member Professor Philip Nolan, who blasted the idea as "snake oil"
