Drive-through coronavirus testing introduced in Budapest

DriveCell Systems Ltd. has set up a non-contact, drive-through coronavirus testing station in the parking lot of the Budapest Groupama Arena. Thanks to the solution developed by the Hungarian company, anyone can participate in a nucleic acid-based (PCR) coronavirus test while sitting in their car after online registration and confirmation received from the company.

As the Hungarian news portal Index reports, drive-through testing has already been used successfully in several countries. The test’s most significant advantage is that the tested person can remain in the safe environment of his/her car. Sampling is done from the nasal and pharyngeal mucosa; participants are informed about the results within 24 hours.

In Hungary, registration can be completed on the platform called Tesztallomas.hu.

For the time being, payment can be realised at the test station by credit card; however, an online prepayment solution will soon be available as well. Participants can only come for the test by car or minibus. A vehicle may have more than one person living in the same household coming for an examination, but no escort is allowed. 

According to the founder of DriveCell Systems Ltd., Gergely Erdős – “The system provides a more secure testing process than similar international solutions, as sampling only takes place after pre-registration online, and participants can arrive at a pre-arranged time. Therefore, paper-based documentation is not necessary for data collection either, as the entire data management is done digitally. Furthermore, the sampling process itself is extremely fast, taking only about 3-5 minutes”.