Closure of giant Covid testing site on Weedon Street in Sheffield signals end of pandemic
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The huge site on Weedon Street near Meadowhall has been dismantled as part of the government’s ‘Living with Covid’ plan which also ended free testing for the public.
A spokesman for the UK Health Security Agency said: “We are enormously grateful for the hard work of all those who worked to deliver the testing at local sites, as well as to everyone who had played their part in reducing transmission of the virus by getting tested and having vaccinations.”
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The government has retained the ability to enable a rapid testing response should it be needed, such as the emergence of a new variant of concern, he added.
The drive-through centre had been running 8am to 8pm, seven days-a-week for almost two years after opening on June 2 2020.
It had several drive-through tents with an adjoining cabin for workers. At least eight mobile testing unit vans were based there too.
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Initially, The Star reported it had 60 staff and was testing hundreds of people daily.
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Hide AdBut even in 2020 workers ‘significantly outnumbered’ visitors and only five cars turned up in the time it took a reporter to be tested.
In February this year, The Star reported the site was quieter still as the vaccination programme took effect.
At the time, an operative said it was ‘just ticking over’.
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