Nine staff at Doncaster Sheffield Airport Covid-19 testing centre ‘test positive for coronavirus’

The testing centre, at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, is still continuing to operate despite a number of workers coming down with the virus, an insider has said.

The source, who declined to be named, said the cases are being kept under wraps from the public by the Government’s security and logistics firm Serco which operates the site.

They said: “Loads of people have tested positive and they are doing nothing about it.

"No deep cleaning, no announcements to the public, nothing."

The site employs more than 100 people who are employed to carry out coronavirus tests in a sterile and sealed off environment.

Those suffering from coronavirus symptoms book a test online and then drive to the centre, which is in a corner of the airport’s car park.

Staff then guide people through the testing process with motorists staying in their cars and performing the tests themselves.

It is not the first time the test centre has been at the centre of controversy.

Back in April, during the first wave of the pandemic, key workers had to wait up to five hours to be tested, carrying out tests themselves.

Angry workers said they only went to the testing centre because they thought they would be tested by a medic who knew what they were doing, and would have tested themselves at home if they had wanted to self test.

James Collins, a care worker from Lincoln, said: “I thought it would be done in 15 minutes. But I’m angry that it all had to be administered by myself. They might as well just give us tests at home.”

Many complained about having to wait hours to get onto the site, sitting in their vehicles for up to five hours on one of the hottest days of the year.

The Free Press has made repeated attempts to get a comment from Serco, without success.

Anyone displaying coronavirus symptoms – a new, continuous cough, a temperature or loss of taste and sense of smell – can book a test online HERE