Pharmacies across the Valencian Community sold a total of 978,299 antigen tests during the second week of the year (from January 10 to 16), according to data from the IQVIA consultancy.
The dispensing of the self-diagnostic tests grew slightly at the national level (+3.6% compared to the previous week). Specifically, Spanish pharmacies sold a total of 8,115,310 COVID-19 antigen tests in that week, compared to 7,720,908 the previous week.
Non-prescription sales officially began in Spain on 21 July, after being published in the Official State Gazette and approved the day before by the Council of Ministers. Prior to this date it was only possible to acquire them with a prescription, so their availability was very limited.
Andalusia is the autonomous community that leads the acquisition of this type of diagnostic tests against COVID-19, with 1,537,093 in the week of 10 to 16 January 2022.
In that week it was followed by Catalonia (1,533,372), Madrid (1,371,428), the Valencian Community (978,299), Galicia (402,794), the Basque Country (325,295), the Canary Islands (323,172), Castilla y León (299,836), Aragón (236,481), Castilla-La Mancha (230,046), Murcia (220,689), Asturias (192,292), Balearic Islands (174,487), Extremadura (125,063), Cantabria (89,952), Navarra (51,383) and La Rioja (23,618).
The ‘stock’ after this week stood at 2,959,083 nationwide, almost one million fewer tests than the previous week (3,919,536), with a clear preponderance again of Madrid (636,951), followed by Catalonia (513,265).
The IQVIA report points out that pharmacies “need to restock in order to meet the demand for the coming weeks”, since they are now sold at a maximum price of 2.94 euro.
