Southend Council’s new initiative hopes to ensure diverse communities have equal access to Covid testing facilities. The scheme saw 300 boxes containing 2,100 lateral flow (LFD) test kits delivered to Southend Mosque in West Road, Westcliff. The test kits are for worshippers during Ramadan, which began on April 12 and finishes on May 12. Test kits will also be distributed to Southend’s two other mosques – The Essex Jamme Masjid Trust on Chelmsford Avenue and Faizane Medina Masjid on Milton Road, and will be replenished when stocks are low. Imam Iftikhar Ul Haque, of the UK Islamic Mission Southend Masjid, said: “These new rapid tests will help identify more people carrying the virus without symptoms and stop the spread of the infection.
As of Friday (April 9) everyone is eligible for twice weekly symptom-free LFD testing kits. If these are not already supplied by your educational institution or workplace testing programme, kits can be collected at the following Southend LFD rapid testing sites: • University Square building, London Road, Southend (entrance opposite Sainsbury s). Standard opening hours: 7 days a week 7am to 2.30pm • Belfairs Methodist Church, Eastwood Rd North, Leigh, SS9 4NG. Standard opening hours: Monday 8am-4pm, Wednesday 8am-3:30pm, Tuesday - Sunday 8am-6pm • Shoebury Youth Centre, Delaware Road, Shoebury, SS3 9NS. Standard opening hours: 7 days a week 8am to 6:30pm The move comes under the Community Collect initiative, a national scheme to enable rapid lateral flow testing at home.
Southend: Rapid Covid self-test kits offered to those living and working in borough braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Experts are also urging people to make the most of the now enhanced testing capacity in the UK, particularly those who have returned to the work place in recent weeks. So here is a list of all the Covid testing sites in south Essex currently listed on the NHS website and what each one offers:
Shoebury Youth Centre, in Delaware Road - for people with no symptoms of coronavirus and tests must be booked in advance. Usual opening hours are 8am - 6.30pm
Southend Airport car park - for people with symptoms of coronavirus and tests must be booked in advance.