Yandex Launches Home Testing for Coronavirus

Internet, April 16, 2020. Yandex today announced that it will begin offering safe and affordable home testing for coronavirus as part of its "Helping Hand" social initiative. At first, service will be offered to residents of Moscow who are 65 or older.Testing will be performed through a network of partner laboratories.  As the availability of laboratory tests grows, service will become available to people of all age groups and will expand to other Russian regions.  Yandex will be covering the costs of the first 10,000 tests for people at greatest risk as part of its previously announced 250 million ruble coronavirus fund.

Accessible testing for coronavirus has become available thanks to the joint efforts of a number of companies led by the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The RDIF contributed to the increase in the number of certified test kits, as well as the number of accredited laboratories.

Anyone who would like to be tested can submit a request on the project's site. Once the time and date are confirmed, a medical professional from one of our partner laboratories fully equipped with protective gear will arrive at the person's address in a car provided by the Helping Hand project and will take a nose or mouth swab, pack the sample and take it to the laboratory, with the result emailed to the person in one to three days after that.

The testing is available for a fee, but there is also an option to request a free test on the project's site.  Free tests are available thanks to donations made on our site help.yandex.ru.

"Accessible testing is critical to effectively fight the pandemic. By helping laboratories to safely and quickly test people in their homes, we can slow down the spread of the virus. As a next step, we plan to launch delivery of coronavirus antibody tests," says Tigran Khudaverdyan, Deputy CEO of Yandex.

Archimedes, Citylab, Family Doctor and Labquest Laboratories have joined the project as our laboratory partners. They use the DSP, Generium, Litech and DNA test systems, as well as Express tests by EMG, a company backed by RDIF. We welcome other laboratories to join in as well. Yandex, together with its partner taxi companiсes, has created a dedicated fleet of cars equipped with a protective screen that keeps medical workers isolated from the drivers as they are taken to people's homes and back to the lab.

Helping hand is a social project launched by Yandex to help medical and social services, whose workload has grown many times during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the project, Yandex organizes transportation for medical workers to people's homes, as well as delivery of food packages, medications and tests for coronavirus.

At the start of the project, Yandex invested RUB 250 million, which went to equip the dedicated vehicles, adapt the logistics platform, provide regular car disinfection, pay the drivers' wages and cover other expenses to ensure health and safety for the drivers, doctors and social workers.

Any individual or organization can make a donation to the charity fund at help.yandex.ru. All donations to the project will be used to fund transportation for medical professionals, social workers, tests and products delivery.

Contacts:

Press Office
Sana Paritova
Phone: +7 495 739-70-00
E-mail: pr@yandex-team.com