SEOUL: From inside his car, a driver is checked for any fever or \nbreathing difficulties by medical staff in protective clothing and \ngoggles who lean in through the window at a new drive-thru coronavirus \nclinic in South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He drove off after the brief test showed he was clear.\n \n\n\n\n\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others queuing in their vehicles in the city of Goyang were \ninstructed to stop briefly to submit a sample of secretions for closer \nexamination, with the entire procedure taking less than 10 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\n initially went to a community health centre and had to wait more than \none hour, so this is easier and faster,” the first driver told local \nbroadcaster YTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of the drivers nor medical workers gave their names, the stigma of even being tested making people cautious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\n growing number of local governments in South Korea are launching the \nroadside testing facilities this week, as demand soars for checks and \nincreasing waiting times raise the risk of infection.\n \n\nAdvertisement\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korea reported 505 new cases<\/a>\n on Thursday, marking its largest daily jump since the first patient was\n confirmed on Jan 20, and taking the national tally to 1,766, according \nto the Korea Centres for Disease Control & Prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \ntemporary testing facility in Goyang, about 16km northwest of capital \nSeoul, was opened on Wednesday at a public parking lot as more than 100 \nresidents seek to get tested every day, the city said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goyang\n has not been badly hit so far, with just four patients, but sudden and \nrapid surges in infections in recent days have stoked fears of a \nnationwide transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority of cases in South Korea are \nfrom the southeastern city of Daegu, the location of a church at the \ncentre of the country’s outbreak, which has also opened a drive-thru \nfacility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other\n cities, including Incheon and Sejong, have launched their own \ndrive-thru testing clinics, while others plan to introduce one in the \nnear future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The facilities can cut testing time by as much as a third, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Here\n we can test many people within a short period of time in a less crowded\n manner, and there are lower risks of infection because it’s done inside\n the car,” Kim An-hyun, chief of the Goyang community health centre, \ntold local broadcaster MBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SEOUL: From inside his car, a driver is checked for any fever or breathing difficulties by medical staff in protective clothing and goggles who lean in through the window at a new drive-thru coronavirus clinic in South Korea. He drove off after the brief test showed he was clear. Advertisement Others queuing in their vehicles in the city of Goyang… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3944,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943\/revisions\/3944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}