Free Covid-19 tests for people unable to work from home

People who are unable to work from home will be offered free rapid Covid-19 self-testing kits from tomorrow (Friday 16 April).

The twice-weekly asymptomatic tests will be available for people who can’t work from home and their households to collect from the Bowls Centre Car Park in Bridgend between 8am and 1pm, seven days a week. No appointment is needed.

After collecting the tests, people will then need to take the test home to use it, they’re not done at the test centre.

Rapid tests, or lateral flow tests, are currently offered to the following groups and they should continue to access their tests as they do now:

• NHS and social care workers
• Teachers and childcare providers
• Learners from Years 7 and above including university students
• Workplaces with 10 or more employees registered under the workplace testing programme

Every afternoon the Bowls Centre Car Park site will close at 1pm for a deep clean and then re-open for symptomatic PCR testing between 2pm and 8pm each day.

The Welsh Government said the rapid tests were an important step forward to moving safely out of lockdown as more restrictions are gradually eased, adding that 1 in 3 people with coronavirus don’t have any symptoms and are potentially spreading it without knowing.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Twice-weekly rapid testing enables us to find these cases and prevent further spread of infection.

“It’s important that even those who’ve had the vaccine take use the tests twice a week as they could still carry the virus and pass it on to others.”

The tests are easy to use and can give results in 30 minutes. It’s recommended the tests are done in the morning and 3-4 days apart.

If there is a positive lateral flow test result the person should self-isolate immediately and book a Covid test (PCR test) within 24 hours by calling 119, online or via the NHS Covid-19 app.

If negative then another test should be taken 3-4 days later. However if coronavirus symptoms develop in that time a Covid test should be booked.

All tests results – negative and positive – need to be recorded online here: https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result (External link – Opens in a new tab or window)

The Welsh Government is also looking into making other venues available to collect self-test kits as well directly delivering them to people’s homes.

More information about lateral flow tests (External link – Opens in a new tab or window) can be found on the Welsh Government website.