Revised opening hours at city’s Covid-19 test centres

Revised opening hours are now in operation at the city's Covid-19 test centres.

PCR testing is available at the five walk-through centres at Showell Road, Faulkland Street Car Park, Blakenhall Resource Centre, Whitmore Reans Library and Mountford Lane Car Park, Bilston, between 8am and 1pm seven days a week, and at the drive-through centre at Priory Green, Whitburn Close, Pendeford from 9am-3pm daily.

PCR testing is for people with symptoms of Covid-19 – a new, continuous cough, a fever or a change to their sense of taste or smell – or who have been asked to get a test, for instance by their school or employer. Appointments should be booked in advance by visiting www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

Meanwhile, the rapid Covid-19 test site at the Civic Centre, for people without symptoms of Covid-19, is now open Monday to Friday from 8am-6pm, while The Hub at Ashmore Park is open from 9am-6pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Opening hours at the Jamia Masjid Bilal, 58 Newhampton Road, remain the same, with rapid testing available 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 five walk-through PCR test centres from 2pm to 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).

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 the new transmissible Delta variant driving infection rates up, with 500 people in Wolverhampton testing positive last week, it is now more important than ever.

"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 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 to reassure yourselves and others that you don't have Covid-19, and to help stop the spread of the virus if it turns out that, actually, you do."

Latest figures show there were 190.2 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the seven days to 3 July. That means 500 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that seven day 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.