Local pharmacies offer free rapid Covid-19 testing

Pharmacies across Wolverhampton are now offering free rapid Covid-19 testing for people without symptoms of the virus.

Free testing is available at nine participating pharmacies around the city, where anyone over the age of 11 can take a rapid test. Test are supervised and only take a few minutes to complete. The results are logged and automatically sent to you.

Currently nine pharmacies in the city offer rapid testing, with more joining in the next few months:

• Bridgnorth Road Pharmacy 41 Bridgnorth Road, WV6 8AF
• Jhoots Newbridge Surgery, 255 Tettenhall Road, WV6 0DE
• Jhoots 34-35 Thornley St, WV1 1JP
• Upper Green Pharmacy 5 Upper Green, Tettenhall, WV6 8QQ
• Fallings Park Pharmacy 212 Bushbury Road, WV10 0NT
• Your Pharmacy First 1 Raynor Road, WV10 9QY
• Low Hill Pharmacy 8 Showell Circus, WV10 9BA
• Ettingshall Pharmacy 3 New Street, WV2 2LR
• Tettenhall Wood Pharmacy 12 School Road, Tettenhall Wood, WV6 8EJ

Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “Regular rapid testing is important in the fight against Covid-19, as it quickly identifies positive cases among people without symptoms that might unwise have gone on to pass the virus on to others.

“Pharmacy testing is very convenient as tests can be booked ahead or you can just walk-in. The test itself is very quick and you don’t have to wait around to find out the results. As soon as the test is done you can leave and the results will be passed on to the NHS automatically, who will then send you your result.

“This is great for people who are not confident about taking a rapid test at home as it means there is someone who can show you what to do. It also means you don’t have to worry about logging on and registering the results, because it is all done for you.”

All off the participating pharmacies are offer walk-in tests, or they can be pre-booked online at https://www.1centralhealth.co.uk/wolveslft.

People can also take a rapid test from the comfort of home, or at one of the city's three rapid test centres. For more details, please visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/get-tested.

Anyone with symptoms, such as a fever, a new and continuous cough or a change to their sense of taste or smell, should book a PCR test online instead, at www.nhs.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling NHS 119.

Latest figures show there were 309.4 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the last seven days. That means 814 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that same period – though the true number of new cases will likely be higher.