Covid: Middlesbrough surge testing response 'encouraging'

The dedicated site was set up in the car park of the Parkway Centre in Coulby Newham

The response to a call to get tested after a case of the South African variant of Covid-19 was detected in Middlesbrough has been "encouraging", the director of public health has said.

A test site was set up for Coulby Newham and Marton after surge testing was announced on 14 February.

About 3,000 locals have since visited the Parkway Centre site to be tested.

Mark Adam said testing was helping experts understand the virus and identify asymptomatic cases.

The latest government figures show that on 15 February, Middlesbrough's infection rate was 295.8 cases per 100,000 people, the second highest rate in England.

That rate was down from the 358.9 cases per 100,000 recorded seven days earlier.

The rate peaked at 676 on 5 January.

People were praised for turning up in the "bitter cold"

Mr Adam, the South Tees joint director of public health, said there had been "a really encouraging response and I urge people from the specified areas to come forward".

"The benefits of this extra testing are two-fold," he said.

"The programme can help us understand more about variants [and] also helps us find asymptomatic cases who had no idea they were potentially spreading the virus."

Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston said people had attended "in their droves" despite it being "bitterly cold last weekend", adding: "Thanks to all of them."

The site will operate until 23 February and people are still being asked to attend.