A PERMANENT Covid-19 testing site is due to open ‘shortly’ in Skipton.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum says it has worked with the Department for Health and Social Care to secure more locations for walk-in testing sites, which are operated on behalf of the DHSC by Serco and Sodexo.

New sites are due to open this weekend in Northallerton and Selby, and although an opening date is yet to be confirmed, one will open in Cavendish Street Car Park, Skipton, ‘shortly’.They join existing sites in Harrogate and Scarborough and supplement the mobile testing units that are regularly deployed around the county.

The Skipton test site will allow walk in appointments. People will not need to arrive in a vehicle, unlike drive through mobile testing units where testing is carried out inside a vehicle.Testing sites are open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. Appointments must be made in advance, online at: northyorks.gov.uk/book-coronavirus-covid-19-test, or by phoning 119.

Richard Flinton, chairman of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, said: “These additional permanent testing sites further expand North Yorkshire’s testing capabilities.

“The greater testing capacity enables us to exert more control over the spread of this virus and to make the best use of resources by releasing mobile testing units to be deployed to the places that need them most.

“The new local testing sites allow those without a vehicle to be tested quickly, giving them more choice and being more accessible to all residents.

“With the onset of winter, the indoor sites also offer staff a warm, dry place in which to carry out tests.”

People are urged to self-isolate from the onset of Covid-19 symptoms or from when instructed to do so by the NHS test and trace service and to continue to self-isolate while waiting for a test result. Details of support for residents in self-isolation can be found on online. More information on testing and coronavirus is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19 and www.northyorks.gov.uk/coronavirus or www.northyorks.gov.uk/help-you-during-coronavirus-covid-19