The City of Zagreb is launching a massive antigen coronavirus testing campaign on Monday November 23, the city administration announced on Thursday following a surge in daily infections.

The authorities have ensured 50,000 rapid tests which produce results within 15 minutes.

Four stages of project

The project will be carried out in four stages.

The first stage will cover the testing of chronic patients, elderly and infirm people in their homes, the second stage will focus on residents of city- and privately-owned nursing homes, the third stage will cover health workers and the fourth stage all other people.

Tests will be carried out at 12 sites in the city and appointments are made via an online application form, Mayor Milan Bandic said at a press conference. He said that more tests would be provided, depending on the public interest.

The authorities said that the increase in the number of people with serious forms of the disease and the growing hospitalisation numbers and people on ventilators showed the need for systematic testing, especially of vulnerable groups.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in late February, 361 residents of Zagreb have died, 22,080 have tested positive, and 3,272 are currently active, the head of the municipal health department, Vjekoslav Jelac, said.