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Coronavirus: Kent rolls out symptom-free tests

BBC Military personnel carrying out Covid-19 testsBBC
The test centres are staffed by 300 military personnel

Testing centres for people with no coronavirus symptoms have opened across Kent as health workers aim to halt the continued rise in cases in the county.

Fourteen new sites, all run by the army, from Dover to Dartford and Ashford to Tunbridge Wells, can test up to 13,000 members of the public a day.

Kent County Council said by identifying cases in people who are asymptomatic the chain of infection could be broken.

Results are usually available within one or two hours.

So-called rapid-flow testing was introduced in Sheppey and Ramsgate before Christmas.

But with the number of new cases in parts of Kent continuing to rise - and rates now at more than 1,000 per 100,000 people in Dartford, Gravesham and Medway - testing has been stepped up.

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Testing centres

  • Ashford - Unit 1 Eurogate Business Park, Thomson Road
  • Canterbury - Sidney Cooper Gallery, 22-23 St Peter's Street
  • Dartford - Fairfield Leisure Centre, Lowfield Street
  • Dover - Dover Discovery Centre, York Street
  • Folkestone and Hythe - Folkestone Library. 2 Grace Hill, Folkestone
  • Gravesham - Northfleet Youth Club, Hall Road, Gravesend
  • Maidstone - Kent Show Ground, Detling
  • Sevenoaks - Swanley Youth Club, St Mary's Road
  • Swale - Kemsley Community Centre, Ridham Avenue, Kemsley
  • Swale - Sheerness East Working Mens' Club and Institute, 47 Queenborough Road, Halfway
  • Thanet - Terminal Building, Ramsgate Port, Military Road, Ramsgate
  • Thanet - The Centre, Alpha Rd, Birchington
  • Tonbridge and Malling - Larkfield Library Martin Square, Larkfield
  • Tunbridge Wells - Assembly Hall Theatre, Crescent Rd, Tunbridge Wells
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More than 100,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Kent since the pandemic began.

Kent County Council's director of public health, Andrew Scott-Clarke, said: "Up to one in three people may have Covid-19 without any symptoms at all, and with this new strain that is more transmissible, we need to identify those people and encourage them to isolate so we break the chain of transmission."

Key workers are particularly encouraged to have a test but anyone living or working in Kent who has no symptoms can book to attend one of the sites, and should receive their results within two hours.

If they test positive, they will be asked to have a conventional PCR test to confirm the result.

The council says another 10 sites will be added in the next few weeks.

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