Corona tests come to the High Street
Churches, parks and even sports grounds used as swabbing sites
TESTING units could be rolled out in public gardens and churches under plans to increase the numbers of patients being swabbed.
Health officials want to make the process more accessible, especially in urban areas, which are most likely to see virus flare-ups in the coming weeks.
They are currently piloting six ‘ walkthrough’ test centres in Leeds, Newcastle, Rochdale in Greater Manchester, Brent in north-west London, Newham in east London and Slough in Berkshire – and more will be added if these are successful.
Many of the units are located close to high streets and shopping centres – Brent’s centre is on a basketball court in a public garden while Leeds’s is in a community church.
Although there are already 68 drive-through testing centres across the UK, most are situated out-of-town which makes them inaccessible for those without a car.
The Department of Health also hopes to boost public awareness about testing amid concerns many adults still don’t know everyone is now eligible for a swab if they have virus symptoms. Figures from the NHS test and trace programme yesterday showed 6,129 people tested positive for coronavirus in the last week, up to June 17. But latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggests there are up to 3,200 new infections a day or 22,400 a week, suggesting fewer than a third of people are being tested.
To further increase uptake, the Department of Health is planning to double the number of mobile testing units from 117 to 236 by the end of July. Officials yesterday said 43,230 people had died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, up 149 from the day before.
Dido Harding, executive chairman of the test and trace programme said: ‘ Our new walkthrough testing sites will be set up in places that are easy for people to get to by foot or on a bike.’
The Newcastle walk-in unit is close to an Asda supermarket, Slough’s is in a leisure centre,
Rochdale’s in a town hall car park and Newham’s is located in a community care centre.
Officials at the Department of Health say the location of the new sites will be driven by where residents are most likely to use them rather than a ‘national diktat’.
They hope the new units will improve the Government’s test and trace programme, which is meant to be playing a crucial role in the safe lifting of the lockdown. But figures from the scheme yesterday showed the numbers of patients handing over details of their close contacts had fallen compared to their previous week.
A total of 70 per cent were asked to provide these details for the week to June 17, while the remaining 30 per cent could not be reached. This dropped from the 75 per cent who gave contact details for the week to June 10.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals said: ‘ There are still many questions that need answering before we can be confident that we have a fit for purpose regime, let alone a world class one.’
The retreat of the pandemic has stalled in England and the number infected may even have gone up, figures suggested yesterday.
Around one in 1,100 people were infected in the middle two weeks of this month – up from one in 1,700 in the first fortnight of June, findings published by the Office for National Statistics said.