Second walk-through COVID test site opens

The second of three new walk-through test sites aimed at helping improve access to COVID-19 testing has opened.

The site at Commercial Road, Hendon, is due to open todayandbefully operational from 8am to 8pm by Thursday.

It will join the Johnson Street walkthrough test site on the University of Sunderland's City Campus, which opened just days ago. A third site is in the process of being identified.

Known as Local Testing Sites (LTS) the centres offer easy and ready access to testing for people without access to a car or who would rather walk than drive to a test centre.

Each of the sites, which are walk-through only, will be operate from 8 am to 8 pm, seven days a week, once fully up and running.

Councillor Dr Geoffrey Walker, Cabinet Member for Healthy City, said: "These new test sites are all about making it easier for our residents to get tested for COVID-19, particularly those without access to a car and the one at Johnson Street has already been well used since it opened this week.

"We are continuing to see an alarming rise in the number of COVID cases across the city and the wider North East in recent weeks. And the only way to get back to any kind of normality is for us all to keep following the guidance on social distancing, good hand hygiene and wearing a mask in public spaces, no matter how hard it is to do so."

Appointments for the test centres must be booked through the national COVID-1 9 booking system, nhs. uk/coronavirus, or by calling 119.