How to get Covid19 test in Vilnius?
If you need to get a Covid19 test in Vilnius or Lithuania, here is the step by step guide for you. One of our authors needed to be tested for Covid19 in Vilnius and he wrote his real-life experience as a guide for you.
Symptoms needed for Covid19 Test
Until now it has been very clear about the symptoms of Covid19, right? But when it comes to yourself, you will want to double-check everything you know about Covid19 and its symptoms to confirm yourself.
In Lithuania, the government website KoronaStop is the one-stop place where you can get all information about Covid19. Also, the call center hotline for Covid19 is introduced here for Lithuanian residents. The hotline 1808 for Covid19 related issues works seamlessly.
Call
When you call the hotline an answering machine welcomes you explaining which number to dial according to your reason to call. As it is in the Lithuanian language, you may give-up listening and hang-up the phone but don’t. After 35 seconds of listening Lithuanian menu, the answering machine starts speaking in English. It is your turn now to dial the number related to the reason for your call.
Wait
The most difficult part is to get connected to an operator and then to an English-speaking one. In our experience after 8 minutes of waiting time, someone hung-on the phone and another few minutes passed while she was transferring the call to an English-speaking person.
Register
After listening to me about my symptoms, the person suggested that I should better get tested and asked me if I want to register for a Covid19 test. For registration and to get a free Covid19 test in Lithuania, you should have a Lithuanian personal code. So make it ready before the registration.
Rules
When you give the necessary information for registration, the person reads a long list of rules about how and what you should do from the moment you agree with the rules till the test result arrives.
There are quite a number of rules. The main rule is that you should agree to self-isolate and agree that breaking the rule will be a crime against the civil and criminal laws of Lithuania. In this case, you agree that you will be taken by force for isolation or hospitalization.
As soon as you confirm that you agree with the rules that have been read to you, an SMS will come to your phone with the time and address information of your test appointment.
Go and get tested
The samples are taken in open-air tents in the parking area next to Siemens Arena in Vilnius. Thinking that there might a queue, I went there 20 minutes early. There was no waiting line at all. After spending 10 minutes nearby I decided to go in. At the first stop, they check your registration and tell you which of the three tents to go where you will give the samples for the test.
At this point, a fully protected operator takes some samples first from your throat with a cotton swab. Then takes another swap and takes samples from your nose. And you are done. All this takes less than 2 minutes including a selfie shot.
Wait for the result of Covid19 test
During the registration process on the phone, I was informed that the results may come in 5 days. If your test result is “Negative” an SMS will come. If your result is “Positive” then they will call you.
Luckily I received my SMS 10 hrs later than the sampling time and let myself free from Covid19 fears and self-isolation.