By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
RIGA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A vending machine that issues coronavirus tests and stores the samples has been installed in a Latvian hospital, as the Baltic state turns to automation to help contain the pandemic’s spread.
The machine at the Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital in Riga is the first of 100 planned under a countrywide rollout and, says a board member of the company that built it, the first of its kind in the world.
It dispenses PRC swab tests. A technician collects the completed kits once a day and results are available within 24 hours, said Didzis Gavars of the E. Gulbja Laboratory.