Drop and collect COVID testing restarts in Birmingham
It's part of the national programme 'Operation Eagle'
Last updated 9th Feb 2021
'Drop and collect' COVID testing has started again in Frankley, Birmingham as part of the national programme to track down and isolate cases of the South African variant.
The service was stopped in October 2020, after it was revealed used swabs had been handed out to students in Selly Oak by mistake.
Extra testing has been re-introduced to monitor and suppress the spread of the South African variant following in other parts of the West Midlands, including Walsall and Worcester.
Door to door testing is being made available in the Frankley Great Park ward and a specific area in south Northfield in Birmingham, where a case of the COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa has been found.
The council is working closely with Public Health England and the national NHS Track and Trace team to support measures to curb any potential spread of this variant; this will include significantly increasing the testing offer in a targeted way.
Residents over the age of 18, who are living or working in Frankley Great Park ward and the part of south Northfield between Frankley and the A38, south of Tessall Lane, since 1 January 2021 are strongly encouraged to take a COVID-19 test this week, even if they are not showing symptoms.
Director of Public Health, Dr Justin Varney said: "Learning from the lessons learnt in summer, we now have a one way system through the testing sites, which ensures that used and unused kits are not stored in the same room, or carried on the same vehicle or, carried by the same person.
"There is a postcode checker on the council website to confirm if you're in an affected zone or not. If you live or work in the affected zone and you're over the age of 18 we're asking you to take a test. If you don't have symptoms that should be through one of the designated sites."
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