It’s very common nowadays that the people travelling to India or any other countries doing corona test. It’s mostly to avoid institutional quarantine or home quarantine. I would like to share my experience in this post which may help others too.

Corona test

There are many possibilities to do a corona test in Germany. I will share the few options which I have explored.

Family doctor

It’s also possible to do tests through the family doctor (Hausarzt). I have asked my family doctor, it costs 80 euros and it may take a few days to get the result.

Stuttgart Airport

• It is necessary to book an appointment.
• It costs 75 euros for the Schnell test and 130 euros for the PCR-Test.

Frankfurt Airport

• It’s not necessary to book an appointment but it is good to book for the test online.
• It costs 59 euros.

My decision

I have decided to do my test at the Frankfurt airport. The reasons are,

• No need to book an appointment
• No need to travel extra for the corona test.
• It costs less amount.

Corona test registration

Personal details

I have registered for the corona test at Centogene website. It’s necessary to provide personal information. This process took approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

I would suggest you keep the passport or copy of the passport (digital or printout) ready to fill the details. Apart from that, you have to upload a passport size photo.

In the end, there is an option to confirm that you agree to the transmission of my pseudonymous test result in the corona warn app infrastructure using the QR code. You can just leave that unchecked, that means it is not mandatory to select that option. I have done that and there were no issues.

Note

You can save the data and rework later. It’s not necessary to start and finish at the same time. But I’m not sure about the consequences of the wrong data while buying a test. It’s always better to have a look at the correctness of the information before buying a test.

Test centre selection

I have selected the test centre, in my case, it’s Frankfurt Flughafen. If you want to do in Frankfurt airport, make sure that you are selecting correctly. There are 2 test centres at Frankfurt airport. One is near to the railway station and another is near to the transit area.

Test type selection

There are 7 different test option available. I have selected the fourth option “4.Premium-24:SARS-CoV-2 PCR test” without any other extra options. As I have mentioned above, It costs 59 euros per person.

Payment

The payment was possible with different credit cards like a master card, visa card, etc…

Info

• It is possible to create a single login and add the other family members.

Receipt

Once you have made the payment, you will receive the receipt confirmation in the registered email. This receipt is very important for the test. I will explain the reason later in this post.

My experience at the airport

Test center location

As mentioned in the Centogene website while booking for the test, the test centre is located at the main place in Frankfurt airport. There is no chance to miss that place if you travel by long-distance train. There are also some directions in the airport which leads to the test centre. I have reached the airport without any difficulty.

Waiting time

I have reached the airport at 08:35 in the morning and there was a queue for the test. I stood in that queue at 08:50. After 50 minutes of waiting, I got the chance to enter into the test centre.

While standing in the queue, employees from Centogene asked for the receipt (the one which I have mentioned above). If the payment was not made, then they will tell the people to go to another counter for the registration and payment.

Process inside the test center

Document verification

Once I have entered the test centre, there was a counter where I had shown my receipt. The person at the counter will scan the personal identification number and ask for your name and date of birth if necessary. The personal identification number will be on the last page (in my case).

It is better to download the pdf document to your mobile phone or take a printout of that. I have used the digital version and there were no issues. Apart from the receipt, I haven’t shown any other documents. But read the instructions and keep the necessary documents with you.

Token

I have received a token which looked a visiting card. I think that The personal identification details are in that code.

Sample collection

The person who had collected the sample asked whether I had drunk or ate within the last 15 minutes. Then I have given the token to the person who had done a test for me. The test was done in a small cabin (not closed). The person who is taking the tests are in PPE kit and others not. The person said to me to open the mouth and inserted the test kit deep into the throat and rotated it around (just my feel). It was not possible for them to get the samples in a single attempt. So they have tried again. But unfortunately, it was also not satisfactory for the person who had tested. After 4 attempts, it was good at the 5th attempt.

My feel

Since the kit was deep into the throat, I had the vomiting sensation but nothing happened, just a feeling. Right after the test, after a few seconds, I felt normal like nothing had happened.

Info

I haven’t ate food at the morning but just had some fruits and drunk water.

Last step

Once the sample was taken, they have removed the codes from the sample and pasted it in the kit which contains the sample. They have given the sample to the next counter where they have scanned the personal identification number and the check code which are in the receipt which I have mentioned above. I hope that you have now understood why I said that the receipt was so important.

Staff and guidance

I was really happy about the behaviour of the staffs. Almost everyone was so kind and helped with all our questions. I felt that the persons who take tests also very friendly.

There are too many people from the Centogene to guide us. They are so friendly too.

My suggestions

It is better to go as early as possible. While we came back after the test, the queue was 2 times more than when we stood in the queue. Always consider the long waiting time.

Note

This is based on my personal experience. It may also differ for others. Kindly consider this process as a guideline and get the latest information from the official websites.