Where can I get tested?

Despite becoming a hotspot this week for Covid-19 in Wales, residents in and around Welshpool are becoming frustrated with the current testing options available and the distances being expected to travel for a test.

The weekend’s mobile testing unit detected 28 positive tests from nearly 500 undertaken, and despite health chiefs believing the outbreak is not in the wider Welshpool community and contained mainly to staff from CDT Sidoli Ltd, those showing symptoms are facing issues.

One reader told us he was instructed to go to Aberystwyth for a test while we are aware of people travelling an hour or more to locations across the border.

A spokesperson for the joint local response to the Welshpool outbreak told us this afternoon: “The UK National Testing Programme is co-ordinated by the UK Government, they have acknowledged that there are some challenges currently, which they are working on to address.

“People who want to check if they have Coronavirus should either book online at https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or call 119.”

How do I book a test to check if I have Coronavirus?

Tests can be taken by visiting either a drive-through or walk-through testing site, or a mobile testing unit.

They need to be booked - either online or by calling 119 if you have problems using the internet.

The Department of Health says you can find your nearest site by searching for “coronavirus testing” on Google Maps.

There are currently 236 mobile testing units, 74 drive-through sites, 21 satellite testing sites and 58 walk-through testing sites around the UK. The aim is to eventually have 500 sites in total. 

Alternatively, you can order a home testing kit but only in the first four days of having symptoms - otherwise you have to visit a site.

However, some people have struggled to get appointments - with a director of England's test and trace programme apologising, saying it was laboratories, not testing sites themselves, that were the “critical pinch-point”.