Amended opening times at Covid-19 test sites over Christmas

Amended opening times will be in operation over Christmas and the New Year at Wolverhampton’s various Covid-19 testing centres.

The walk-through test centres for people with symptoms of Covid-19 – at Showell Road, Whitmore Reans Library car park, Blakenhall Resource Centre and Mountford Lane car park in Bilston – will be open from 8am-8pm as normal except for Christmas Day, Bank Holiday Monday 28 December and New Year's Day when the opening hours will be 9am-3pm.

The drive-through test centre for people with symptoms of Covid-19 at Aldersley Leisure Village will be open from 9am-3pm as normal except for Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day when it will be open from 10am to 4pm and Christmas Day and Bank Holiday Monday 28 December when it will be open from 10am to 3pm.

People who develop symptoms of Covid-19 – a new, continuous cough, a fever or a change to their sense of taste or smell – must self-isolate and book a test at one of these centres at www.gov.uk.get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

Meanwhile, the city also has two centres offering rapid testing for people without symptoms of the virus.

The main test site, at the Civic Centre, will be open as normal until Christmas Eve, when it will close at 4pm. It will reopen between 9am and 3pm from 29-31 December. It will close again on New Year's Day and reopen on 2 January when opening hours will be as normal – 8am-7pm weekdays and 10am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Please note, the Civic Centre is only open for rapid testing purposes at this time.

The second rapid testing site, at the Jamia Masjid Bilal on Newhampton Road West, is open from 10am-6.30pm daily, except for Christmas Day and Boxing Day when it will be closed.

Rapid testing, which uses lateral flow test technology to provide results in under an hour, can identify cases in people who don't have any symptoms of the virus, but could still be infectious. Anyone who tests positive is then able to self-isolate to prevent the spread of the virus onto others. Rapid testing is not available to people who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, or to anyone with symptoms of Covid-19.

Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: "We have an extensive network of testing facilities across Wolverhampton for people with and without symptoms of Covid-19 which will remain operational over much of the festive period.

“If you develop symptoms of Covid-19, please self-isolate and book a test immediately.

“And if you don’t have symptoms and want to take part in the rapid testing programme, please come along to the Civic Centre or the Jamia Masjid Bilal. You'll get your result inside an hour and, if it turns out you have got Covid-19, you’ll be able to take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your loved ones."

For full details of Covid-19 testing services in Wolverhampton, please visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus-testing. Free short stay parking is available at St Peters Car Park off Wulfruna Street for people attending for a test.

Latest data shows there were 283.29 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the seven days to 19 December. That means 745 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that seven day period – though the true number of new cases will likely be considerably higher.

The latest information and guidance around coronavirus is available at www.gov.uk/coronavirus and on the council’s own coronavirus pages at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus. Further details of the Tier 3 Very High Alert restrictions currently in place, and the answers to frequently asked questions, are available at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/covidalert.