Scarborough could get its own walk-in coronavirus testing centre

An application has been made for the borough to have a site dedicated to carrying out tests.

If approved, it would be similar to the one being set up at the University of York, with the aim for it to be a semi-permanent site predominantly for walk-ins.

Currently, people can only book to have a test done in Scarborough when the mobile unit run by the Department of Health and Social Care is in the area.

The move was revealed at a briefing from North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum and comes after a national fiasco over the availability of coronavirus tests.

People with symptoms reported being asked to travel hundreds of miles to be checked.

The Scarborough News reported how one Filey man could not secure a test for several days and when he finally did, it was 86 miles away in Sunderland.

The briefing also heard that the number of cases in the county is continuing to rise, with the biggest increase recently in the Craven and Richmondshire district.

North Yorkshire’s Director of Public Health Dr Lincoln Sargeant warned that the county is starting to see a rise in coronavirus hospital admissions - and the first deaths of people with coronavirus since the end of July.

But he said there has been success from the efforts being made to prevent cases at settings such as schools, hospitals, and hospitality businesses from spreading.

“In schools, there have been a small number of cases which are not part of a school transmission,” he said.

“People have been infected outside of that setting, through a member of their household or social contacts.

“Thus far, we’ve been able to prevent significant ongoing infection.”

Stuart Carlton, Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Service at North Yorkshire County Council, added: “These are not the places where Covid-19 is transmitting.

“Schools are safe places to be and children definitely need their education.”

There have been 44 educational settings in North Yorkshire hit by coronavirus so far, with one pupil or one member of staff testing positive in most cases.

Mr Carlton said close contacts have managed to be identified in most of these settings, rather than whole year groups being told to go home.

He said attendance in North Yorkshire’s schools remains high.

Director of Health and Adult Services, Richard Webb also gave an update on a letter he sent out to care homes in Scarborough, as well as Harrogate and Selby, asking them to restrict visiting with immediate effect.

He said he would like to see every care home resident have a nominated visitor who was regularly tested so that they could be allowed into a care home but stressed that is not yet the current situation.