Harrogate’s first permanent coronavirus testing site is due to open today just over a week after builders moved in.
The Department of Health and Social Care centre is in the Dragon Road car park, which has been home to the mobile testing centre over the past few months. It will test up to 320 people a day.
It has been replaced with a series of modular buildings with floodlights all linked up to a generator to keep it accessible as the nights turn darker.
Read more:
- Harrogate district covid cases have more than doubled since September
- Harrogate face mask litter a ‘sign of the times’
After an initial pilot period, it will be open between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week.
That is far more than the previous mobile testing centre. That had generally been open for four hours a day, two days a week.
People will also be able to turn up on foot, unlike at the mobile testing centres. However, tests must still be booked in advance.
Staff making the finishing touches to the testing centre.
Dr Lincoln Sargeant, the director of public health in North Yorkshire, said:
“We have worked hard to retain and increase the level of testing across the county, so we are pleased that our efforts have resulted in the creation of these two sites, which will be up and running shortly.
“We will continue to lobby for further expansion of testing facilities across the county.”
The Stray Ferret asked the DHSC the cost of building the permanent testing centre in Harrogate but had not received a response by the time of publication.
