Covid testing centres in Newcastle to be scaled back

An asymptomatic Covid testing programme for key workers in Newcastle is being heavily scaled back, after its two centres were used at just 15% of their capacity.

Newcastle City Council launched the project in January as a way to identify more virus cases among people not showing symptoms and thereby prevent future outbreaks.

Appointments to take a rapid-turnaround lateral flow test were offered first at Newcastle Civic Centre and then also at Westgate College, with plans for a further facility in the east end of the city.

But local authority bosses are now cutting back the programme, with a report revealing that take-up for the Covid tests has “consistently remained well below the available capacity”.

The council said that an estimated 7,500 tests have been conducted across the two sites so far, roughly 800 per week – 85% short of the maximum capacity of 5,200 per week.

A testing facility in the civic centre’s banqueting hall was originally open from Monday to Saturday, but will now only be operational from 8am to 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

The Westgate College site will be available from 8am to 4pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, rather than its original 10am to 6pm every weekday.

With the shorter opening hours, the total testing capacity at the two centres will be a combined 2,800 per week and the council also confirmed that the proposed east end facility will not be opening now.

The move comes after the government announced a new campaign last week in which everyone in England can now get two lateral flow tests, which can provide results in just half an hour, every week regardless of their job or whether they have Covid symptoms.

The testing kits are now available via home delivery or collection services, as well as through school and workplace testing, and community testing offered by councils.

A council report on Newcastle’s community testing scheme said that the service, staffed by redeployed local authority employees, said that it was being cut back to ensure it is “maintained in the most cost-effective way”, but would not be closed and could be rapidly expanded again if needed.

Prof Eugene Milne, director of public health for Newcastle, said: “Around a third of cases of Covid don’t have the typical symptoms – people may have, and may spread, the virus unknowingly. The Community Testing programme was set up to help find those cases through regular, voluntary testing in people who are not ill.

“The more we can spot when any of us is carrying and shedding the virus, the more chance we have of preventing further spread of infections by self-isolating. This is part of reducing the ‘R’ value of the virus – the number of new cases caused by each Covid infection. And reducing that spread is essential to our escape from lockdown.

“The programme in Newcastle aimed initially to ensure sufficient asymptomatic testing capacity for key workers in the city – those who had no choice but to leave their homes for work despite lockdown. But the overall community testing programme has now expanded so that not only can anyone access these facilities, but tests will soon also be available from community pharmacies across the city or by collection from our sites.

“Along with the broadening of supply, we are adjusting opening hours in line with demand for supervised testing while retaining the flexibility to increase capacity if and when required.

“The community testing centres remain open for people to book appointments for tests or to drop in to collect home test kits.”