Fourth coronavirus drive-through testing centre to open

A fourth drive through testing facility is opening in Scotland.

The new site in Inverness, will join similar ones in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, as part of the UK Government’s drive to increase testing for thousands of vital staff.

Operating on an appointment-only basis the latest facility will be piloted for its first few days of operation. Staff will be given self-administered swabs to identify if they have the virus with results sent out within a few days.

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He added: “The UK government has committed to expand our testing capacity right across the UK and this new centre is now one of four throughout Scotland. We will continue to work for everyone in the UK to save lives and protect our NHS.”

UK Health Minister Lord Bethell said the centre was one of 28 across the UK, as the government scaled up the its efforts "to boost testing capacity for coronavirus to protect the vulnerable, support our NHS, and ultimately save lives."

He added: “This new service will help end the uncertainty of whether NHS and social care staff and other key workers need to stay at home, meaning those who test negative will be able to return to work. This is a national effort and we are proud to be working with a number of partners to turn this ambition into a reality and roll out additional capacity to where it is needed.”

A home-testing service for critical key workers, supported by Amazon's logistics network and other commercial partners, is also currently being developed by the goverment.

“This is a brilliant example of industries and businesses turning their resources to creating and rolling out mass testing at scale, which will help to deliver on our aim of carrying out 100,000 tests a day across the UK by the end of the month.”

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