Yandex ends its free COVID-19 home testing program

Yandex has ended a program that offered free home coronavirus testing in Moscow. Launched on April 20, the Internet giant sent medical professionals to roughly 20,000 homes to collect samples for COVID-19 tests. As of Friday, May 15, new applications for home tests are closed.

In a press statement, Yandex explained that easing restrictions on Muscovites’ movements and the city’s new initiative to offer free antibody tests obviates the need for Yandex’s program. “In other words, you can now get tested without our help,” the company says.

On May 15, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin launched a city program to offer free mass testing for COVID-19 antibodies. The data will guide the capital’s further easing of quarantine restrictions imposed to fight the spread of coronavirus.

“Antibody tests should not be used to diagnose someone as being currently sick with COVID-19. To see if you have a current infection, you need a viral test, which checks respiratory samples, such as a swab from inside your nose,” warns the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.