Twenty hospitals in Taipei City are now conducting rapid tests for COVID-19, as of Monday. Previously, Taipei officials had set up four dedicated stations to administer rapid tests in a hard-hit area of the city.
Taipei City government says the first step is to go for a check-up. If the doctor thinks a test is necessary, the patient will get both a rapid test and a PCR test at the same time. That’s in order to speed up the process of identifying people who have the virus.
It takes two to three days to get the results on PCR tests, while rapid tests come back in about half an hour.
Mayor Ko Wen-je says that under the new system, if a rapid test comes back positive, the hospital will make processing that individual’s PCR test a priority. The patient will then be sent into quarantine at home.
The 20 hospitals offering rapid COVID tests in Taipei are all hospitals that offer emergency services, including: National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Municipal Wan-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University Hospital, and Mackay Memorial Hospital. The mayor visited those four hospitals on Sunday night to oversee preparations and offer encouragement to medical staff.