Prague hopes a new online tool will help ease lines at testing points across the Czech capital

From Friday, a new website has been launched, which connects to the reservation systems of invididual testing points to offer an overview of the closest available COVID-19 testing dates in Prague.

The website is intended for both those with a request and for self-payers, who can check the average waiting time for testing at selected sampling points. In the coming days, most sampling points in Prague should be connected.

The covid.praha.eu website was created by the data analysts behind the city's Golemio platform in cooperation with Prague sampling points and private laboratories.

"Data collection draws on the COVID Forms application, to which all sampling points must supply up-to-date information, and the remaining data is obtained manually and mechanically by the ICT Operator from the websites of individual locations," said Michal Fišer, CEO of the Prague City company Operátor ICT, a.s.

The time that people spend at the collection point is updated every two hours, as is other information in the event of a change, he added.

"Our goal is to prevent long queues from forming during testing. As of today, the first two collection points will be involved in data delivery. More will be added from next week. I believe that this website, from which people can conveniently register for tests, will simplify the already demanding life situation in which many find themselves now," said Prague mayor, Zdeněk Hřib.

Information about test sites in the Central Bohemian Region will gradually appear on the website. The newly launched website can be accessed via mobile browser.

"Municipalities have already shown in the spring that they manage the epidemic better than the government. We consider the protest of the population to be essential, which is why Prague is launching a website on its own initiative, where citizens will learn everything they need to know. We are also constantly expanding the number of test sites,” said deputy mayor Petr Hlubuček.

City officials say they are trying to increasing testing points; a new testing site was opened Thursday at the Municipal Polyclinic in Prague on Spálená Street, where there is a separate entrance to the sampling room directly from the street, so that visitors to the polyclinic do not mix with people coming in for tests.

At the beginning of next week, the drive-in test site will be re-launched at the Exhibition Grounds in Holešovice.

Currently the website is only available in the Czech language.