PRESS RELEASE: Unilabs sets up 50th Covid-19 Drive-Through, delivering 2,500 tests a day

Geneva, 29 April 2020: Unilabs, the leading European diagnostic services provider, has set up more than 50 "drive-through" facilities to collect samples from suspected Covid-19 patients. The facilities are based in Portugal, France, Switzerland, Slovakia and the UAE. Overall, Unilabs performs 70,000 Covid-19 tests weekly, and rising.

“Drive-through testing is a key part of an effective response to this colossal public health challenge,” said Michiel Boehmer, Unilabs Group President and COO. “Covid-19 is highly infectious, so it’s vital to prevent contamination of hospitals and traditional collection centres.”

After making an appointment, patients drive to the collection point, where they roll down their windows to have their samples taken by trained medical staff in protective clothing. The samples are then tested in our laboratories. By remaining in their own vehicles throughout, patients minimize contact with other people, reducing the risk of infection for everyone – patients, medical professionals, and the general public.

Currently, Unilabs collects about 2,500 daily drive-through samples at 57 centres across the Unilabs network, with plans to add significant further capacity. Unilabs performs Covid-19 testing in Norway, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Slovakia, Czechia, the UAE, Spain, and Sweden.

In some markets, Unilabs is also working on providing home testing kits that will allow patients to perform tests in the safety of their own home. As well as testing for Covid-19 infections, Unilabs is also working on validating and rolling out anti-body testing to identify Covid-19 patients who have recovered, and may thus have at least partial immunity. Anti-body testing will be rolled out once the tests are validated and approved by the relevant authorities. 

Media contact:

Alistair Hammond, Director of Communications

e: alistair.hammond@unilabs.com

t: +44 771 773 0441

About Unilabs

Unilabs is one of Europe’s largest and fastest-growing diagnostics companies. It offers a complete range of laboratory, pathology and imaging services for patients all around the world. With 12,000 employees across 110 imaging centres and 250 labs in 16 countries, we perform close to four million lab tests a week – saving lives every single day.