New Covid testing centre to open at business park in Reading
The centre will be for critical workers
Last updated 27th Jan 2021
A new testing centre for critical workers who are not showing any symptoms of Covid-19 will open in Reading next week.
Wokingham Borough Council is setting up the government-funded testing centre in Thames Valley Park.
Lateral flow tests, that provide results in around 30 minutes, will be offered to a range of critical workers who live or work in Wokingham.
That includes health and social care workers, police officers, firefighters, supermarket workers, nursery staff, and postal workers.
The council has already opened one testing centre at its offices in Shute End, Wokingham, and is planning to open a third in Sindlesham.
It wants to be able to test 800 critical workers a day, to make sure they are not transmitting the virus without realising when they are at work.
Cllr Charles Margetts, executive member for health, said:
“What we’re asking people is they must commit to coming down at least once a week, ideally twice.
“Lateral flow testing is useless if you only do it once.
“Book in online, you’ll be given an appointment and the result will come back within 30 minutes, telling you if you are or are not carrying Covid-19.”
Wokingham’s infection rate currently stands at 294.5 per 100,000 people, after 504 people tested positive for the virus over seven days.
More than 6,900 people have tested positive in Wokingham during the pandemic and 232 have died after contracting the virus.