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Community COVID-19 testing to be rolled out across Coventry
11 January 2021
A partnership between Coventry City Council, CV Life and Culture Coventry Trust means community testing for Coronavirus is to be extended across the city, including at Coventry Transport Museum.
Walk-in centres will be opened in a number of venues run by the two organisations in the new year, beginning with Coventry Transport Museum, to allow the city’s vital battle against COVID-19 to carry on.
A few weeks ago saw the opening of the walk-in centre in Coventry University’s Priory Building for community testing for people without symptoms. However, the building will be returned for University use when students return from 14 January 2021, who will need to be tested.
That facility currently being used by people who live or work in Coventry will be replaced by a new centre that will open at the Transport Museum in Hales Street.
Over the coming weeks, a number of other walk-in centres will be established at other CV Life venues including Alan Higgs Centre off Allard Way, Centre AT7 in Bell Green, Moat House Leisure Centre in Wood End, and the Xcel Centre in Canley.
The move will mainly see sports halls in the leisure facilities used for the testing of people with no symptoms. It means that bookings for activities in the sports halls will be cancelled but all other permitted activities at the centres will continue as normal in a COVID-compliant way.
Councillor George Duggins, Leader of Coventry City Council, said: “Testing is an important part in helping us all live with and manage the spread of the virus.
“Community testing has proved popular so far and has proved crucial in identifying positive cases with people who are asymptomatic, who would otherwise be unwittingly spreading the virus.
“We thank Coventry University for the use of Priory Building which they will need back to test returning students. I’d also like to thank CV Life as our partnership means we will be able to continue to offer a testing site in the city centre when we give Priory Building back and, in the coming weeks, expand and roll-out the scheme into communities making it easier for people to access.”
Community testing is only for people with no Coronavirus symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should seek a test in the normal way – dial 119 or visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus to book a free tests at one of five centres across the city.
Paul Breed, Chief Executive for CV Life and Culture Coventry, said the charitable trusts were happy to work the city council to enable the expansion of community testing.
He said: “Our venues are based within the communities they serve to promote health and wellbeing and we are pleased to join forces with the city council to enable more community testing to take place.
“It does mean there will be some disruption for some of our customers who have booked the sports hall, but all other activities in our centres will continue as normal.
“We will be getting in touch with anyone affected but I hope they’ll understand how important it is for us to do all we can to support this community testing initiative and help Coventry return to some form of normality as soon as we can.”
The community testing centres will be run by redeployed Coventry City Council workers and volunteers from across the city and involves a Lateral Flow Test. This is a swab test that gives results in less than an hour. It does not need to go to a lab. The test checks if people are infectious, even if they do not have symptoms. The test involves taking a swab of the inside of the nose and the back of the throat. People carry out their own swabs and then trained staff will process the result.
Anyone with any of the main COVID symptoms should always seek a test in the normal way by dialling 119 or booking one by visiting www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.