A new walk-through coronavirus testing facility for Maidstone residents has opened at the Shepway Youth & Community Centre Car Park on Cumberland Avenue.
The new facility is only available for those with coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new continuous cough, or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.
Anyone with one or more of these symptoms should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
We are pleased to be able to support this new walk in testing centre which will make it easier for Maidstone residents to get tested when asked to do so. Anything that can help reduce the likelihood of spreading Covid-19 in Maidstone is a real benefit.
Cllr Martin Cox, Leader of Maidstone Borough Council
The new site is situated so it is easily accessible without a car. Those being tested will be required to follow public health measures, including social distancing, not travelling by taxi or public transport, practising good personal hygiene and wearing a face covering throughout, including while travelling to and from the testing centre.
Anyone attending an appointment at a walk-through test site will be provided with guidance on getting to and from the test site safely, with additional support for vulnerable groups and people with disabilities.
Testing at the new site started on Wednesday, 25 November with appointments made available each day.
Anyone testing positive for the virus in England will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace to help them trace their contacts. This will help to identify who they may have been in close contact with, protecting others from further transmission.
In order to play our full part in reducing the spread of the virus we are ensuring that Kent and Medway have scaled up our capacity to test people for Covid-19. We fully support the opening of a new local test site in Shepway and welcome anything that helps to reduce the community infection rate. It is important that people help to ‘Protect Kent and Medway’ by continuing to follow national guidance if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 and access tests in their local area as quickly as possible and take the right action to recover or quickly get treatment.
Kent County Council Director of Public Health, Andrew Scott-Clark
