Even when it's freezing cold in January, a visit to the Steinhof in Vienna-Penzing is still worthwhile.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Art Nouveau architect Otto Wagner designed a hospital complex with a main building and thirty pavilions on this area, with cozy walkways and a church whose gold dome shines far and wide over the Wiental: an institution for the “mentally ill”.

It was a very modern facility at the time.

The Steinhof hasn't served this purpose for a long time.

But for a good year now, two of the pavilions have been used again for a health purpose.

More than 300,000 PCR tests are evaluated there every day, which are part of the free Vienna gargling program.

Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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This program may seem almost heavenly to visitors from countries where horrendous sums are shelled out for PCR tests and there are possibly still queues for hours outside.

Anyone in Vienna can take such a test every day if they wish, without paying anything.

The effort: With a bit of routine and stored data, a few minutes and a trip to certain drugstores, grocery stores or gas stations - one of them is always nearby.

You usually get the result before the next morning.

How does "Everything Gargles" work?

The principle of "Alles gurgelt" is that you take the sample yourself.

In a box the size of a notebook is a sealed bottle with the reaction liquid, a capsule with saline solution for gargling, a cardboard tube for spitting into the bottle, a small piece of fleece cloth and a plastic bag for packing after the action is done, and instructions.

You have to accept that you are consistently addressed as “du”, as if you were in a Swedish furniture store.

The instructions also contain a sample number (to be entered by hand or scanned via a barcode), which is then linked to the personal data of the test person. The "bag" goes back into the box. This will then be thrown in at the said drop-off points. It is emptied there in the morning at nine o'clock and in the afternoon at two o'clock, although experience shows that the minute usually doesn't matter. Even on Sundays, the drop can take place at certain petrol stations or train stations.

If you want an official document for the test result, with your name and QR code that can be read into a Green Passport app, you have to sit in front of the camera on your cell phone or computer to gargle and spit. Then an official ID or passport has to be scanned and the address entered - foreigners can also take part, with or without an Austrian social security number. If you want, you can have the data saved, then this step will not be necessary the next time.

Up to 2.2 million tests per week are processed in this way, says a spokesman for the Vienna Health Council Peter Hacker (SPÖ).

The client is the City of Vienna, and the federal government ultimately bears the costs.

A company called Lead Horizon is responsible for the web presence and data processing, the Life Brain laboratory, which was specially founded last year, is responsible for the analysis up at Steinhof, the Rewe Group provides the logistical framework for the delivery and the Austrian postal service takes care of the collection.

Due to the high numbers and the efficient chain, the costs for the individual test could be greatly reduced.

Almost 6 euros per piece would be charged, says the spokesman.

Private customers pay at least ten times as much elsewhere.