The UK Government has further bolstered testing capacity in Scotland through the opening of two new walk-in coronavirus testing centres, in Dundee and Edinburgh.
Both sites, located in the city centre of Dundee and the west of Edinburgh, have been specifically chosen to be easily accessible for people without a car.
The Dundee site has been established in the Park Place car park, while in Edinburgh a space has been made in the Gate 55 community hub.
Part of a UK-wide drive to continue to further improve accessibility of coronavirus testing for local communities, the two new facilities are being provided and funded by the UK Government and will form part of the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities ever established in this country.
In particular, the Dundee site stands out as the first self-cleaning facility to have been established in Scotland.
Utilising a system which has been deployed successfully elsewhere in the country, the process involves decontaminating each testing cubicle with dry mist between each use – helping speed up the cleaning process and increase the available testing capacity of the site.
All Covid-19 testing in Scotland outside of the NHS is being provided by the UK Government, equating to around two-thirds of all daily tests – helping support the pressures on the Scottish health services.
Health Minister Lord Bethell said: “We continue to expand UK Government testing to make sure that everyone with symptoms can get a test, with our new walk-in sites making it even easier no matter where you live.
“These new site forms part of our UK testing network, which has the capacity to test more than a million people a week and is growing all the time.
“If you have symptoms of coronavirus, I urge you to book a test today, and follow the advice of contact tracers if you are contacted to protect others around you and stop the spread of the virus.
“This is a UK-wide 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.”
