Kirklees Covid-19 tests: Long queues form in Batley

Hundreds of people queued up to be tested in Batley

People have been queuing to take part in a mass coronavirus testing programme launched in part of West Yorkshire.

The aim is for up to 50,000 people in Kirklees to be tested over the next six weeks in the council-run scheme.

It follows a pilot project in Liverpool where people without symptoms were offered rapid testing and Covid-19 infection levels subsequently fell.

Members of the military are helping run the scheme, but the tests are being carried out by council staff.

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Kirklees is currently in tier three - very high alert - restrictions, having had 20,937 confirmed cases of Covid-19 up until 17 December.

The district last reported a weekly rate of 165.8 infections per 100,000 people, placing it 83rd out of the country's 149 tier three areas.

Members of the military are helping run the testing scheme in Kirklees

The Kirklees scheme uses lateral flow tests, which can give people a result within 30 minutes.

Lateral Flow Devices identify about three-quarters of people who have very high amounts of virus present when tested, the council said.

In Batley, people have queued outside the town's library to take a test.

Walk-through sites are now open at Batley Library, Dewsbury Customer Service Centre, the Hudawi Centre in Huddersfield and at the Greenwood Centre in Ravensthorpe.

Kirklees is one of 63 areas to be taking part in the mass testing programme. .

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