Leicestershire County Council has opened its Covid-19 lateral flow test centres across the county to all residents as lockdown restrictions start to ease across the country.
The move means that anyone living or working in Leicestershire without symptoms can now take a quick swab test at one of seven community test centres.
Until now, only people who had to leave home to work could book a slot and is one of a number of measures being taken by Leicestershire County Council to help stem the spread of Covid-19 as the rules relax.
The council is making home test kits available to anyone in regular contact with school-age children and are pushing out messages across social media encouraging people to stay safe in parks and gardens if meeting up with friends and family.
Commenting, Leicestershire County Council’s Director of Public Health, Mike Sandys said: “Rates in Leicestershire are at their lowest since late last summer. We’re seeing odd spikes in a couple of places, but overall it’s a good picture and I want to thank people for heeding the advice.
“Starting to open up is the trickiest point. Sadly we’re not quite out of the woods yet and although the vaccine is rolling out and people are craving normality, if we go too fast too soon, we’re likely to see more cases.
“Spring has sprung and I suspect our parks will be popular, so I’d urge people to keep on using their common sense and stay safe. This is especially important if you’re going into someone’s garden. You might be tempted to pop inside, but remember, the virus is spreading much more easily indoors. It’s so important to protect yourself and your loved ones.
“Testing is important, but it doesn’t give you a free pass, you must still follow the guidance. It only takes 10 minutes to have a swab test at one of our centres and by opening up our test centres to everyone, we’re helping people to lead more normal lives as well as breaking the chains of infection.”
So far, 21,300 tests have been carried out at the seven testing centres across Leicestershire.
