German officials have turned a Burger King drive-through restaurant into a testing station for people suspected of having the coronavirus.

Instead of a burger and chips, people who drive up to the serving window are greeted by a person who gives them a cotton wool swab that they use on the inside of their mouths and hand back to them.

The project was set up by the German Red Cross in order to make use of the recently closed Burger King restaurant in Steigerstrasse street in the German town of Mechernich in North Rhine Westphalia.

People who contact their doctor by telephone with symptoms and who are told they need to do a test are given an appointment and a number. They then drive to the Burger King restaurant at the appointed time and drive up to the window in order to do the test.

Each patient is expected to take a swab from inside their mouths, meaning they can stay inside the car, and then it is handed over to a German Red Cross worker operating on the other side of the window.

From there they are transported to the laboratory on site, and the test result is sent to the doctor.

A single test takes three minutes, and according to German Red Cross crisis manager Rolf Kloecker: “We have had to emphasise that patients can only come with an appointment, and they need a recommendation from their doctor. Anybody else is not been tested.”

Individuals also expected to bring proof of identity for the process to be completed.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.