St Mary s Market testing centre RESIDENTS are being encouraged to do twice-weekly rapid coronavirus tests for people with no symptoms. This symptom-free testing - known as lateral flow testing - is an important tool for easing restrictions and stopping outbreaks of Covid-19. About one in three people who have coronavirus don t get symptoms and may unintentionally spread the virus to others. If you do not have symptoms, you can access symptom-free tests by: • Collecting at-home test kits from your local collection testing site or pharmacy collection site • Ordering lateral flow tests online, if you cannot order online call 119 • Attending a symptom-free testing site for a supervised test.
The testing centre at St Mary s Market MORE than 50,000 symptom-free coronavirus tests have been carried out across St Helens. The milestone was hit on Tuesday, January 26 after three asymptomatic testing sites were launched on December 7. The tests have helped find 956 cases of COVID-19 in people who did not display any symptoms and may have otherwise continued to be out in public rather than self-isolating, helping to reduce the spread of the virus. The number of tests carried out has seen almost one in five (19.2 per cent) people getting tested across the borough with more than 34,000 people taking part in the regular symptom free testing.
A Covid ward at Whiston Hospital THE number of recorded coronavirus cases in St Helens increased by 251 within 24 hours, official figures show. The figures underline the rapid acceleration in cases over recent weeks, which is being mirrored across the country. Data released by Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram, meanwhile, showed the weekly case rate for St Helens had gone up to 578.2 per 100,000 people (to January 4) a rise of 365 from the previous week. St Helens rate has grown significantly but is still the lowest across the neighbouring areas, with Knowsley s rate 944.7, Liverpool s 732.6, Halton s 1000.7, Wirral s 711.2 and Sefton s 713.9. It leaves the overall rate for Liverpool City Region as 750.1 per 100,000. The country is in a strict national lockdown, with school closures and a strong stay at home message.
The coronavirus infection rate is rising in St Helens and the wider region PUBLIC health chiefs say they believe a more contagious strain of coronavirus has already made its way to Merseyside. The variant, named VUI-202012/01, is believed to be up 70 per cent more transmissible than previous forms, and is thought to be what has been driving high infection rates in the South East. The UK recorded another 36,804 confirmed cases of Covid-19 today, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. Today’s tally also tops the previous record of 35,928 new cases set on Sunday. London and large parts of South East have already been placed into Tier 4 restrictions – essentially locking them down – on Sunday due to high prevalence of the new variant, with fears that more areas might follow.