Milton Keynes Council, in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, is piloting testing for key workers to help understand and drive down transmission rates.
Around one in three people who are infected with Covid-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it. Broadening testing to identify key workers showing no symptoms will mean finding positive cases more quickly, which helps break chains of transmission.
The scheme is open to all key workers in early years settings.
Lateral flow tests are a new kind of technology that can be used to test a higher proportion of asymptomatic people and do not require a laboratory to process the test. Extensive clinical evaluation from Public Health England and the University of Oxford show lateral flow tests do not detect all positive cases, but they can be helpful as part of a mass testing programme to identify asymptomatic people quickly.
No key workers with symptoms will be tested at this site. Instead, they are asked to use the existing free testing service. Anyone with one or more of these symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
The testing centre is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9.30am to 4.30pm, and open from 9.30am to 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday.
Please bring an ID badge.
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