Germany starts COVID testing drive in bid to end lockdown German state, federal and public health officials have spent weeks debating if and how to roll out rapid tests for mass use, as other countries have been doing for months. A plan for that has finally taken shape. Every person in Germany will be entitled to a weekly COVID test The days of shelling out €25 or even €50 ($30-60) for a rapid test may be numbered. The latest pandemic plan agreed to late Wednesday between Chancellor Angela Merkel and 16 state leaders, puts forward a complex, step-by-step guide to moving Germany out of lockdown. But little can happen without sufficient testing.