By Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) - 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.
Others queuing in their vehicles in the city of Goyang were instructed to stop briefly to submit a sample of secretions for closer examination, with the entire procedure taking less than 10 minutes.
"I initially went to a community health center and had to wait more than one hour, so this is easier and faster," the first driver told local broadcaster YTN.
None of the drivers nor medical workers gave their names, the stigma of even being tested making people cautious.
A growing number of local governments in South Korea are launching the roadside testing facilities this week, as demand soars for checks and increasing waiting times raise the risk of infection.
South Korea reported 505 new cases on Thursday, marking its largest daily jump since the first patient was confirmed on Jan. 20, and taking the national tally to 1,766, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
The temporary testing facility in Goyang, about 16 km northwest of capital Seoul, was opened on Wednesday at a public parking lot as more than 100 residents seek to get tested every day, the city said in a statement.
Goyang has not been badly hit so far, with just four patients, but sudden and rapid surges in infections in recent days have stoked fears of a nationwide transmission.
The majority of cases in South Korea are from the southeastern city of Daegu, the location of a church at the center of the country's outbreak, which has also opened a drive-thru facility.
Other cities, including Incheon and Sejong, have launched their own drive-thru testing clinics, while others plan to introduce one in the near future.
The facilities can cut testing time by as much as a third, officials said.
"Here we can test many people within a short period of time in a less crowded manner, and there are lower risks of infection because it's done inside the car," Kim An-hyun, chief of the Goyang community health center, told local broadcaster MBC.