Drive-thru testing unit now open daily

Sun, 22 Mar 2020

A mobile COVID-19 testing unit will open daily at the Grandstand.

The unit set up to take samples from members of the public to test for coronavirus will operate from 10am – midday seven days a week. 

Staff are now testing people referred to them on the day by clinicians at the COVID 111 helpline who have assessed their symptoms. The new hours will ensure that processing is undertaken in a manageable way, now that the team has caught up with a backlog.

Once swabs are taken they have to be prepared for dispatch to the UK by air, where they are taken to a specialist laboratory for analysis. The process involves a number of protocols and so the operating hours of the mobile unit tie in with the admin side of the process later in the day.

The public are reminded they should not attend the unit asking for a test unless they have been referred there via COVID 111.

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