Mobile Covid-19 lab opens at Brussels Airport

October 13, 2020: Brussels Airport has opened its mobile laboratory, where samples taken in the Test Centre can be analysed immediately on site, and faster than before. Rapid tests are now possible as well, enabling passengers to receive their tests results within 4 hours. Since the opening of the Test Centre on September 14, more than 7,000 passengers have already been tested at Brussels Airport.

A month after the opening of the Test Centre at the airport, the analysis laboratory at the airport is operational. Henceforth, the PCR test samples can be processed on site, so passengers will receive their results even faster (within an average of 9 hours, maximum 24 hours).

With this on-site laboratory, it is also possible to opt for a PCR rapid test with the result available within four hours. This is particularly useful for departing passengers who need a negative test certificate for a specific destination.

Since early October, arriving passengers coming from a red zone no longer have to get tested upon their arrival but after a period of five days. They are still welcome to have that test taken at the Test Centre at Brussels Airport with their activation code. People who are not travelling but need to be tested as part of the contact tracing, or have a prescription from a doctor, can also make use of the Test Centre. The same goes for pilots and cabin crew and all staff working at the airport. This additional testing capacity remains necessary and important in the current health crisis in Belgium.

The Test Centre and the laboratory are run by Ecolog as a logistic partner, in collaboration with Eurofins-Labo Van Poucke.