coronavirus drive-through testing station..

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South Korea pioneers coronavirus drive-through testing station

Goyang, South Korea (CNN)South Korea has come up with an innovative way of testing for the novel coronavirus -- and it was inspired by the drive-through counters at McDonalds and Starbucks, officials say.

Here's how it works. 

In the northern city of Goyang, drivers pull in to a parking lot where they are met by health workersdressed in hazmat suits. 

Motorists then drive to several stations where nurses in protective plastic suits, masks and face shields register drivers, check their temperatures, and use swabs to take samples from their throats and nasal passages. This is a drive-through coronavirus testing site. Officials say it is safer and faster to test for the virus at the drive-through than in a hospital or health clinic. 

"There's less face-to-face contact," said Lee Jae-joon, the mayor of Goyang. "If you operate a testing site indoors, there is concern that suspected patients can infect each other in the waiting room."