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Bridgend offers Covid testing for everyone over 11

Getty Images Woman shopping in Bridgend town centreGetty Images
Bridgend has gone from very high to very low case numbers since Christmas

Children as young as 11 are being included in a free Covid testing programme across a whole county.

Bridgend council is offering anyone who does not have symptoms of the virus tests during April.

Bridgend has the fourth lowest case rate in Wales, at 10.2 per 100,000 people, and one of UK's lowest overall.

Council leader Huw David said the community testing could pick up asymptomatic cases and help keep the rate low.

Bridgend has seen a remarkable turnaround in its coronavirus fortunes.

At one point over the Christmas period, it had one of the highest case rates in the UK at 1,118.7 per 100,000 people, second only in Wales to the even more badly affected Merthyr Tydfil and double the Wales-wide average.

Three testing centres

However, numbers have been falling steadily since January following the imposition of a national lockdown just before Christmas, and it is routinely in the lowest-scoring counties for case rates in Wales and beyond.

The county is offering three different testing centres at various locations during the month.

Currently, members of the public can attend the Ogmore Valley Life Centre until the end of Tuesday.

From Wednesday, testing will move to the Evergreen Hall in Angel Street, Bridgend, until Tuesday 20 April.

The final sessions will be held in Porthcawl's Awel-Y-Mor Community Centre from 21 to 28 April.

All centres will be open from 09:30 BST to 18:30 BST Monday to Friday and 10:00 BST to 16:00 BST on Saturdays and Sundays.

'We want to keep rate low'

Mr David said: "Anyone who lives, works or studies in the county borough can now get tested at the centres. This also includes anyone visiting the county borough.

"It is fantastic news that the county borough has one of the lowest infection rates in the UK, we want to keep them low and community testing is an important part of the strategy to identify and isolate these asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 in our communities."

The testing includes residents who have have already undergone a test or received a dose of the vaccine as they can still carry the virus.

So far 100 people have tested with no positive results being returned.

An earlier phase of community testing in March found just one person out of 1,664 with the virus.