A new asymptomatic Covid testing centre will open at the premises of a former department store next week.

The well-known House of Fraser building on Grange Road in Birkenhead, which was previously the home of Beatties department store, is set to open on Monday, January 18 as the new home of symptom-free testing in the town centre.

The building was recently purchased by Wirral Council to facilitate regeneration plans for the town but in the first instance will be used to support the ongoing Covid-19 response.

As a result. the Birkenhead Market testing centre will now close at the end of testing tomorrow (Friday, 15 January).

Councillor Yvonne Nolan, Chair of the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee for Wirral Council said: “I would like to thank all of the traders at Birkenhead Market for their support.

"The market was only ever viewed as a short-term option until we could identify a more suitable venue and although the former House of Fraser department store has been purchased to support wider regeneration plans, until those plans are ready to be put into action, it makes great sense to utilise what is a fantastic space for the symptom-free testing.

“It is important that the Borough’s largest town centre, surrounded as it is by businesses who need to carry on operating during the lockdown and whose staff will benefit from priority access to regular and repeated testing will be able to get tested at a venue that is convenient to them.”

To ensure key workers and those people who simply cannot work from home have access to testing when they need it, symptom-free testing in Wirral is now by appointment only.

The following groups will be given priority when booking appointments at a Wirral symptom-free testing centre:

  • essential workers who cannot work from home
  • anyone else who cannot work from home
  • unpaid carers who have to leave home
  • anyone who has been asked to get a test before going to a medical appointment

To book an appointment at Wirral’s symptom-free testing centres, visit: www.wirral.gov.uk/test

Wirral Council advice on testing

If you have symptoms of Covid-19 you must not visit one of the symptom-free testing centres. Self-isolate for 10 days and if you develop symptoms get a test at one of the symptoms only testing centres. More information is available via www.wirral.gov.uk/test

If you have been identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive you must self-isolate. Please do not attend a symptom-free test site. You only need to be tested if you develop symptoms.

If you visit a symptom-free testing centre and test positive you must self-isolate. Guidance and support to do so is available here: www.wirral.gov.uk/covidpayment.