Korea is doing some robotic testing of the samples:
> Rather than a human mixing the solutions, the samples are instead put into a diagnostic machine. Inside the machine, a robot arm pipettes the solution and mixes the liquids on a number of tests at once. According to Chun, this method takes only four hours to test samples from 94 patients -- four times faster than the manual method. It also reduces the risk of human error or contamination.
I think a lot of places are probably using automated testing machines. Apparently, Public Health England has been operating theirs 24/7 after the staff go home to keep up with the incoming samples, and that's one reason why results take a lot more than 4 hours.
> Rather than a human mixing the solutions, the samples are instead put into a diagnostic machine. Inside the machine, a robot arm pipettes the solution and mixes the liquids on a number of tests at once. According to Chun, this method takes only four hours to test samples from 94 patients -- four times faster than the manual method. It also reduces the risk of human error or contamination.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/asia/coronavirus-south-korea-...