Tokyo launches coronavirus drive-through tests as crisis deepens

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Tokyo’s first drive-through coronavirus test centre was launched this week, as Japan ramps up efforts to prevent its medical system crumbling under the growing weight of new infections.

The city Yokosuka, south of the capital, is starting walk-through testing on Friday — the first of its kind in Japan — in which samples will be taken by a medical worker stationed in a phone booth-like protective box.

A medical worker conducts a simulation for a walk-in style polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the coronavirus at a makeshift facility in Yokosuka, Japan. — Reuters
A medical worker conducts a simulation for a walk-in style polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the coronavirus at a makeshift facility in Yokosuka, Japan. — Reuters

The launch of the time-efficient tests, which have already been put in place in countries such as neighbouring South Korea, follow criticism from medical experts over the limited access in Japan to PCR (polymerase chain reaction) swab tests.

Read the full Reuters story here.

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