Covid-19 tests to be offered to all Redcar residents

All residents of Redcar will be offered a test, which will be voluntary and taken over a number of days

A mass coronavirus testing programme will be rolled out across Redcar with all 36,000 residents being offered a test whether they have symptoms or not.

Sites will be set up with the help of the Army after the town was chosen as a pilot alongside two other areas.

The town's Conservative MP, Jacob Young, backed the move and said testing would begin on 23 November.

He said the tests offered would use saliva samples rather than swabs, with results available in half an hour.

Mr Young said more details about the scheme, which is expected to last about 10 days, would be revealed in due course and people "shouldn't be concerned" to see the Army out and about. 

He told BBC Radio Tees that Redcar had been "picked out of a hat" of similar-sized towns and the government would work alongside the council and the Army to "massively increase testing capacity".

"Ultimately, we're going to get a better understanding of who has Covid and who doesn't," he said.

"At the moment, someone could be walking down the street not having symptoms of Covid but passing it onto other people whereas this testing programme is going to allow us to identify those people, help them self-isolate and therefore reduce the spread. 

"If we want to get out of these restrictions as soon as possible, this is one of the key ways we're going to be able to do that, so it's good news for us."

There is already an existing testing site in the borough

All residents living in the TS10 postcode will be offered a test, which will be taken a number of times over 10 days.

The area is currently under the tier two coronavirus restrictions along with the rest of the north-east of England.

A similar testing programme was first used in Leicester during the summer, which saw door-to-door testing carried out.

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In a social media post, Mr Young confirmed nobody would be forced to take a test and said the Army "wouldn't be knocking on people's doors". 

"This is a voluntary scheme and will better identify who has Covid in our community, help them to self isolate, and therefore reduce the spread," he said.

NHS dashboard data shows Redcar's latest seven-day Covid-19 rate stands at 285.8 cases per 100,000 people, using information from 20 to 26 October.

The Ministry of Defence said discussions were in the early stages, but it was working with other government departments and civil authorities to assist with the response to the outbreak where required.