A new free walk-in Covid-19 testing centre is opening today, that can be used by some South Kilkenny locals.
The facility, based in the WIT College Street Campus, is accessible to anyone living within 15 kilometres of Waterford city.
It’s one of four testing centres being launched across the country today- the others being Mulhuddart and Ballyfermot in Dublin, and St. Joseph’s Health Campus in Limerick City.
The HSE’s aiming to carry out 300 to 500 Covid tests per day at each centre.
National Lead for Testing and Tracing, Niamh O’Beirne, says they’re being set up for those who are asymptomatic.
“These centres are designed for people without symptoms, who just may have a concern if they’re a casual contact of if they’ve been in an environment that concerns them and they believe they could have contracted the virus” she explained. “We do know that about 20% of people do have Covid without having any symptoms at all, so these centres are for those people”.
In addition to displaying no symptoms, there are other criteria people must meet to get tested, including;
- Aged 16 years and over
- Live within 15km of the walk-in testing centre
- You have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last six months
- Members of the public will need to bring photographic ID with them and provide a mobile phone number in order to get test results.
