New Covid-19 testing centre opening in Sheffield as infection rate rises

The walk-through centre at Gower Street car park in Burngreave will open from September 30 and will be in addition to existing local testing sites at Alderson Road car park in Sharrow and Station Road car park in Darnall.

The mobile testing unit based at the Olympic Legacy Park in Attercliffe, meanwhile, is moving to Milton Street car park in Broomhall from next Tuesday, September 29, with pedestrian and drive-through appointments available there between 11am and 3pm.

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All appointments at testing centres in Sheffield must be booked in advance, with walk-in testing currently unavailable in the city amid a national shortage of capacity in laboratories to process tests.

The new Burngreave testing site will have a soft opening on Wednesday, September 30, when it will only operate from 2pm-5pm, but normal opening hours of 8am-8pm will be in place from Thursday, October 1.

Sheffield Council said it had been planned for some time and is scheduled to remain in place for three months.

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The decision to move the mobile unit to Broomhall, where it will be closer to the city’s large student population, is part of efforts to make testing more accessible to everyone.

The changes come amid a big rise in Sheffield’s weekly Covid-19 infection rate, which has climbed from 46.2 cases per 100,000 people to 62.9.

If you have symptoms, you can book a coronavirus test by calling 119 or visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus. People are asked to keep trying if they are told there are initially no tests available in their area.