Businesses and healthcare providers with over 4,000 employees can carry out their own in-house testing for COVID-19

Businesses and healthcare providers employing over 4,000 employees can carry out their own in-house testing for COVID-19. As part of ongoing country-wide testing in Slovakia, the government will provide such businesses with antigen tests and COVID-19 test certificates, while members of the SVK Armed Forces will be tasked to oversee the roll-out and operation of in-house testing units. Those interested should send their applications to michal.krizan@mod.gov.sk by 12:00 on 27 October 2020.

To be allowed to roll out their own in-house testing for COVID-19, the businesses must provide medical personnel and administrative aids. Just as with the testing sites for country-wide testing, they must also meet all the conditions laid down by the Regional Public Health Authority. Yet another condition is that testing must be conducted in parallel to country-wide testing of the Slovak population and test results must be reported to the National Medical Information Centre. The Ministry of Defence has compiled a manual for businesses interested in carrying out their own testing, it is downloadable via this link: www.somzodpovedny.sk/pre-firmy.

In-house testing for COVID-19 will also be allowed in hospitals, outpatient clinics and healthcare providers, the only conditions being that data must be reported to the National Medical Information Centre and that only tamper-proof COVID-19 test certificates must be issued.

The MOD is trying to be accommodating to media outlets and cultural institutions as well. A COVID-19 outdoor testing unit will be set up at Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) for those employed by televisions, radios and theatres.