Grab your Covid test kits, and don’t forget to log your result

With infection rates rising, people in Wolverhampton without symptoms of Covid-19 are being urged to get a twice-weekly rapid test to reassure themselves and others that they don’t have the virus.

Nearly 770 people in the city tested positive for Covid-19 in the last seven days, latest figures show – with the new more transmissible Delta variant driving the increase in numbers.

Free rapid testing is available at the Civic Centre from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm, The Hub at Ashmore Park between 9am and 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and at the Jamia Masjid Bilal, Newhampton Road, from 10am-7pm daily.

Rapid Covid-19 testing can also be done at home using test kits. These are available for collection for free from the city’s five walk-through PCR test centres (Showell Road, Faulkland Street Car Park, Blakenhall Resource Centre, Whitmore Reans Library and Mountford Lane Car Park, Bilston) between 2pm and 8pm daily and from the Civic Centre and The Hub at Ashmore Park during the opening times listed above.

In addition, home test kits can be picked up from the mobile Covid-19 test unit, Bilston and Wolverhampton Markets, WV Active leisure centres, Wolverhampton Swimming and Fitness Centre, a number of local schools and from pharmacies offering the Pharmacy Collect service (details at https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk).

People who are using home test kits are reminded that they must register their result even if it is negative, as this helps to track the prevalence of the virus in the city.

Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 – a new, continuous cough, a fever or a change to their sense of taste or smell – is reminded they must self-isolate and book a PCR test as soon as possible, either at www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “Along with the vaccine, testing is key to getting us out of this pandemic and, with infection rates continuing to rise, it is now more important than ever.

"Of course, if you have symptoms of Covid-19, you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. But even if you don't have symptoms, it is still important that you get a regular rapid test. That's because we know that one in three people with Covid-19 do not have symptoms but could still be infectious and spread the virus onto more vulnerable family and friends.

“Rapid testing is quick, easy and can be done from the comfort of home, so please get a test twice a week either to reassure yourselves and others that you don't have Covid-19 or to help stop the spread of the virus if it turns out that, actually, you do."
She added: “Please don’t forget to record the result of your home test, whether it is positive or negative, as this will help to give a clearer indication of the spread of the virus in our city.”

Latest figures show there were 292.4 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the last seven days. That means 769 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that same period – though the true number of new cases will likely be higher.

More information on Covid-19 testing, including advice about how to take the rapid test at home, is available at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/get-tested. Please remember that rapid test results must be registered, whether positive or negative, to help better track the spread of the virus.