Collect and drop COVID-19 testing service launches in libraries
Main image: Wick Road Library will be one of the venues for Collect and Drop testing. Picture Bristol City Council.
A new Collect and Drop COVID-19 testing service launched today (9 February) in eight libraries across Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
It means people can collect testing kits for themselves, family members or for those unable to leave home.
This is the second phase of the new two-week “surge testing” programme which started on Sunday at three mobile testing hubs – including Imperial Park.
Surge testing aims to help scientists and public health officials learn more about a mutated Covid-19 Kent variant found in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
It will also help reduce the spread of infection by finding asymptomatic cases and prompting people to self-isolate.
The nearest libraries to Knowle West are Wick Library in Brislington or Whitchurch Library – which are not open but acting as collection points.
Other libraries with the service are Junction 3 in Easton, Fishponds and Henleaze.
In South Gloucestershire it is available at Downend, Staple Hill and Emersons Green libraries.
The service offers a one-off test for people over 16 who live, work or are in a support bubble in 24 postcodes, including parts of Knowle West. They must not have symptoms of COVID-19.
The Collect and Drop service at the libraries will have instructions with the testing kits, and tests must be carried out safely in the home and not in the car or on the roadside.
Once completed, tests must be put it into the sealed box provided, and returned to the location they were collected from. They must not be posted through a letter box.
Director for Public Health in Bristol, Christina Gray, said: “On the first day of our mobile testing sites being open on Sunday over 2,000 tests were carried out.
“We are so grateful to everyone for playing their part in helping to prevent the spread of the virus and protect our communities.”
The new Collect and Drop services in Bristol will be open from 10am until 4pm, Monday to Saturday and from 9am-5pm, seven days a week in South Gloucestershire.
For information about additional community testing in Bristol, visit the Bristol City Council website
For information and access to the Self-Isolation Payment Scheme, visit: Test and Trace Payment Support – bristol.gov.uk
For guidance on how to take a home test, watch this instructional video from the Department of Health and Social Care: How to take a coronavirus self-test swab – YouTube
