<p>Nearly half of Slovakia's entire population took Covid-19 swabs on Saturday, the first day of two-day nationwide testing the government hopes will help reverse a fast rise in infections without a hard lockdown.</p>.<p>The scheme, a first in a country of comparable size, is being watched by other nations looking for ways to slow the virus spread and avoid overwhelming their health systems.</p>.<p>Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Sunday 2.58 million Slovaks took the test on Saturday, and 25,850 or 1% tested positive and must go into quarantine.</p>.<p>The European Union country has 5.5 million people and aims to test as many as possible, except for children under 10.</p>.<p>More than 40,000 medics and support teams of soldiers, police, administrative workers and volunteers staffed around 5,000 sites to administer the antigen swab tests.</p>.<p>The testing was free and voluntary, but the government will impose a lockdown on those who do not participate, including a ban on going to work.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Igor Matovic said he was apologising for putting pressure on people to take part, but said the requirement was justified.</p>.<p><strong>Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/slovakia-begins-mass-covid-19-testing-in-global-first-909586.html" target="_blank">Slovakia begins mass Covid-19 testing in global first</a></strong></p>.<p>"Freedom must go together with responsibility toward those who ... are the weakest among us, oncology patients, old people, people with other diseases," he told a news conference.</p>.<p>Slovakia suffered only thousands of cases in the spring and summer after swiftly imposing restrictions.</p>.<p>But infections have soared in the past weeks, raising concern the country may follow neighbouring the Czech Republic which has the highest two-week death rate in Europe.</p>.<p>The scheme has faced opposition from some experts who doubted it made sense as a one-off measure or pointed to the antigen tests used which are less accurate than the laboratory PCR tests and may thus return more false-negative but also false-positive results.</p>.<p>The government plans a second round of the testing next weekend to catch cases missed in the first round or those who got infected in the meantime.</p>.<p>On Sunday, Slovakia reported 2,282 new cases through PCR tests, putting the total at 59,946, without those identified in the nationwide scheme, and 219 deaths to date.</p>
<p>Nearly half of Slovakia's entire population took Covid-19 swabs on Saturday, the first day of two-day nationwide testing the government hopes will help reverse a fast rise in infections without a hard lockdown.</p>.<p>The scheme, a first in a country of comparable size, is being watched by other nations looking for ways to slow the virus spread and avoid overwhelming their health systems.</p>.<p>Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Sunday 2.58 million Slovaks took the test on Saturday, and 25,850 or 1% tested positive and must go into quarantine.</p>.<p>The European Union country has 5.5 million people and aims to test as many as possible, except for children under 10.</p>.<p>More than 40,000 medics and support teams of soldiers, police, administrative workers and volunteers staffed around 5,000 sites to administer the antigen swab tests.</p>.<p>The testing was free and voluntary, but the government will impose a lockdown on those who do not participate, including a ban on going to work.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Igor Matovic said he was apologising for putting pressure on people to take part, but said the requirement was justified.</p>.<p><strong>Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/slovakia-begins-mass-covid-19-testing-in-global-first-909586.html" target="_blank">Slovakia begins mass Covid-19 testing in global first</a></strong></p>.<p>"Freedom must go together with responsibility toward those who ... are the weakest among us, oncology patients, old people, people with other diseases," he told a news conference.</p>.<p>Slovakia suffered only thousands of cases in the spring and summer after swiftly imposing restrictions.</p>.<p>But infections have soared in the past weeks, raising concern the country may follow neighbouring the Czech Republic which has the highest two-week death rate in Europe.</p>.<p>The scheme has faced opposition from some experts who doubted it made sense as a one-off measure or pointed to the antigen tests used which are less accurate than the laboratory PCR tests and may thus return more false-negative but also false-positive results.</p>.<p>The government plans a second round of the testing next weekend to catch cases missed in the first round or those who got infected in the meantime.</p>.<p>On Sunday, Slovakia reported 2,282 new cases through PCR tests, putting the total at 59,946, without those identified in the nationwide scheme, and 219 deaths to date.</p>