A PCR test can cost up to 200 euros. But there are exceptions: Anyone who suffers from symptoms that indicate the coronavirus, or who the self-test shows an infection, gets the smear free of charge. This also applies to contact persons for sick people – if they know how.
How can a contact get a free PCR test?
The number of infections is increasing and with every sick person there are several close contacts. Usually the health department records these and sends the unvaccinated among them a quarantine notice with which they receive a free PCR test.
In Munich, however, the authorities have been lagging behind for weeks. According to its own information, the office has daily contact with up to 2500 people, including 800 with requests to quarantine, but it was not able to inform all infected people promptly. As a result, their contact persons have not received a notice of quarantine either. According to a spokesman, these delays should be “remedied promptly”. It is also currently difficult to get help from the Corona hotline. There, the answering machine often puts you off to try again later because all employees are currently on the call.
What are the alternatives?
Contact persons do not have to wait for the certificate from the health department, explains a spokesman for the health department. In the municipal test center on Theresienwiese, both unvaccinated and vaccinated people can fill out a self-assessment and confirm with their signature that they are close contacts. To do this, they have to provide the name of the infected person. An appointment is not necessary for this, but can be arranged at www.corona-testung.de. The rush is growing: on Wednesday, for example, almost 1,000 people had themselves tested on the Theresienwiese. Incidentally, there are only smears there that are free of charge for those affected. Self-payers have to look for a private test station.
What should I do if I have a positive self-test?
In this case, those affected either bring this with them to the appointment or upload a photo of the test in advance when booking the appointment online. A positive self-test entitles you to a free PCR smear at municipal and private test centers or at the doctor’s. According to the city, those affected are then not allowed to take public transport to the appointment, but have to take the car. The quarantine obligation applies up to a negative result.
The Corona warning app lights up red. What now?
Anyone who is shown an increased risk on their smartphone because they have determined proximity to an infected person using Bluetooth should reduce their encounters and are entitled to a free test at municipal and private centers as well as doctors in private practice. The Corona warning app must then be shown to the test centers.
And who already has symptoms?
If you have symptoms such as a cough or fever, you need to see a doctor. A free PCR test is then possible, but not at the city center, but sometimes at private offices.
I want to pay for the PCR test myself.
Private centers and resident doctors can carry out a test for self-payers. This costs between 40 and 200 euros. Despite the cost, many people take advantage of this option. In the three test centers of the Sun Health Center on the Museum Island, in the traffic center of the German Museum on the Schwanthalerhöhe and in Haidhausen, around 4,000 people were tested daily, says Michael Schleef from the health center. Most of them paid for the test themselves. At the Test Smart test centers, around 70 percent of the 150 people tested every day took their own hands, explains Klaus Kilfitt, “and the trend is rapidly increasing.”