Anger as Covid test centre in Birmingham is closed
BIRMINGHAM’S drive-through coronavirus testing centre is to close – just as the city attempts to control a ‘spike’ in Covid-19 cases and prevent a local lockdown.
The testing centre at Edgbaston cricket ground is to shut this week – with new sites opened miles away at Birmingham Airport, in Solihull, and in West Bromwich. Labour MPs demanded to know why it was not possible to find a new drive-in test site within the city of Birmingham.
Steve McCabe, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, said: “We completely understand and recognise that Edgbaston Cricket Ground want to return to business, however we are really concerned that this leaves a local drive-through testing gap in Birmingham.
“The two replacement sites are not easily accessible for many of our constituents and with cases rising we are really concerned that local people won’t be able to get to a testing site easily enough.
“We are more than willing to work with the government on this but we need to know what other sites have been considered and what plans there are for additional testing sites in the city. We are told Birmingham is getting enhanced support but making it harder for people to get a test doesn’t feel like it.”
The city’s Labour MPs asked Health Minister Lord Bethell whether the Government had considered other venues within the city, such as leisure centres, universities, football clubs or the Star City complex.
And Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield) said: “These are perfectly fair questions that deserve to be answered.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “As well as the Birmingham Airport drive-through site, and the planned drive-through site in West Bromwich, further walk-through coronavirus testing facilities will be opening at the University of Birmingham South Gate Car Park and the Saltley Wellbeing Centre Car Park. We also have increased the number of Mobile Testing Units deployed across Birmingham, and are supplying a large volume of home test kits for distribution.”