How the mobile coronavirus test works

In frustration at the government’s decision to check only high-risk groups, some Swiss cantons have started setting up their own coronavirus testing facilities.

Basel Country and Bern are among them. They feel that without testing, cases cannot be isolated and so the chain of infection continues. They want to maintain the capacity of healthcare centres to help emergency cases, and not tie them up with testing.

Basel Country became the first canton in Switzerland to carry out mobile coronavirus tests, with two teams checking people with symptoms at their homes. The primary care doctor must be contacted and request testing from the mobile team. Doctors in Basel can also send their patients to one of two testing stations set up in sports centres or halls.

Bern is also set to open a testing facility with a drive-through option nearby, plus two other facilities in Biel and Thun.