For a week now, all Viennese have been able to obtain free PCR tests as part of the “Alles gurgelt” initiative. “It has all worked very well,” City Hall drew a first balance on Thursday.
“Alles gurgelt” initiative free for all Viennese
Previously, participation was only possible for selected businesses and organizations. Since Friday, around 830,000 test kits have been issued and 132,500 samples (22,100 per day) have been evaluated. A further 30,000 samples were handed in yesterday (Wednesday) and are currently being evaluated.
“The stock level in branches is constantly monitored. There are no bottlenecks, no replenishment problems. We have over 1.8 million test kits in stock, which are continuously delivered to branches,” a spokesman for Health City Councilor Peter Hacker told the Austrian Press Agency (APA). Participation to date has been in line with expectations, it said. The daily top for kits distributed was more than 201,000, and for samples evaluated 35,000, he said.
The pilot project “Alles gurgelt” started at the end of January. Initially, only selected businesses and organizations could participate. Since last Friday, this has been possible for the entire population of Vienna. The PCR tests are free of charge and can be carried out at home.
Pick up free PCR tests in Bipa stores
The test kits from the manufacturer Lead Horizion can be collected from one of the 152 Bipa stores. Once the test has been completed, it can be handed in at any of the 620 Rewe locations throughout Vienna – i.e. at Billa, Merkur, Bipa, Penny or even service stations with Rewe stores. The latter are also available for this purpose on Sundays and public holidays.
Registration – and thus also the use of the tests – is possible via the website www.allesgurgelt.at or the Lead Horizon app. There you will also find all the information about the test procedure, answers to common questions and links to the barcodes that can be used to get the test kits.
395,907 PCR tests evaluated to date
To date, a total of 395,907 samples have been evaluated as part of “Alles gurgelt” – i.e. including the pilot project with companies. Of these, 0.46 percent (1,829) were positive. Even though more people are now participating, the evaluation should continue to work quickly. The results come “with a few exceptions” within 24 hours, sometimes even faster, promised the spokesman for the health council.
- sources: APA and vienna.at/picture: hp
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