An ESA-backed mobile field laboratory set up at Piedmont is enabling the Italian authorities to test thousands of key workers for COVID-19. Some of the tests carried out there take just a few minutes, instead of a few hours.

Staff use the lab to perform and analyse nasopharyngeal swabs to identify whether or not a person has the coronavirus, as well as to conduct antibody tests to demonstrate whether a person who has been infected has an immune response to the virus.

Key workers who have a negative antibody test or a positive antibody test followed by a negative swab can then return to work quickly, supporting the economic recovery.