More than 400 people attended Forres House Community Centre for free Covid-19 tests

A TOTAL of 407 free Covid-19 community tests were carried out at Forres House Community Centre between March 1 and March 12.

The tests for members of the public with no symptoms could be taken from 9am-3.30pm on weekdays without the need for an appointment to find out if attendees were positive so they could take immediate action.

Moray Council environmental health service staff manned the test site and a spokesperson thanked everyone who took part.

She said: “Booths were set up in the hall, in line with health procedures. Testing identifies and breaks chains of transmission – people could have coronavirus and be spreading it without knowing.”

Attendees were asked to take a lateral flow test – taking a swab from the mouth and nose – which was then processed on-site with the results issued around 30 minutes later by text, email or telephone call.

Anyone testing positive was asked to take a confirmatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test and self-isolate until the result was known. If their second test was positive, the individual and everyone in their household had to self-isolate.

The council cannot disclose how many people tested positive due to confidentiality.

The spokesperson added: “Testing is still available in Elgin. We would encourage residents without symptoms to get tested before any appointment that requires close contact or prolonged time in a shared place.”

Centres are closed to other users so only people attending for tests are in the area.

“People in Forres recognised the benefits of getting tested,” finished the spokeswoman.

“As things start to open up further it becomes even more vital that people take a test to stop community transmission.

“The stations are working well within capacity with little or no queues.”