The community testing site at Five Rivers leisure centre is to close at the end of the month.

The venue on Hulse Road reopened as a testing site for asymptomatic workers around four weeks ago.

But on March 31, all in-person testing will stop.

Kate Blackburn, Wiltshire Council's director for public health, said the testing site was always meant to shut at the end of March, as this is what had been agreed between the local authority and the Department of Health and Social Care.

She said: "The original ask from the Government was for local authorities to set up asymptomatic community testing sites to run till the end of March.

"Community testing has then been extended to the end of June but we always said in Wiltshire that actually, having physical testing sites wasn't equitable for the population.

"They're really difficult for people to get to and what we'd much rather do is provide far more sites where individuals will come and collect their testing kits."

The only site that will remain operational is Devizes Leisure Centre as this is the one attracting more footfall.

The closure of the site at Five Rivers marks the start of a new "collect model" with more sites expected to open in the coming weeks to give out self-testing kits to the public.

Mrs Blackburn says the move will "enable a lot more people to do that twice weekly testing as it's being recommended" particularly among families with school-age children.

Once the new collection testing sites are up and running anyone will be able to pick up a testing kit without booking.

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