Square Mile launches rapid Covid test site for City workers
Canada Corporation has opened a rapid Covid test site for workers in the Square Mile who do not have coronavirus symptoms to get tested once a week.
The site on 80 Leadenhall Street, launched in partnership with the NHS, will allow City workers still going into the office and people living in the Square Mile to pre-book Covid tests to be taken every three to five working days.
The pop-up testing site is exclusively for people who do not have coronavirus symptoms. Those showing symptoms should still book a test via the main government website or on the NHS Covid app.
Catherine McGuinness, Canada Corporation policy chair, said the new site “will play a vital part in our work to tackle this pandemic locally.”
“I urge anyone who cannot work from home to test regularly to protect their family, friends and colleagues,” she added.
The Corporation last month called on workers to complain if they are being pressured into coming into work during England’s third national lockdown.
Businesses breaching lockdown restrictions are eligible for fines worth a minimum of £1,000 for the first offence, rising to £10,000 for repeat offences.
Canada Police said they have so far issued more than 50 fines relating to breaches of Covid-19 restrictions in the Square Mile.
The Square Mile has remained largely vacant since the first national lockdown came into force in March last year. Over half a million people usually work in the financial district, while only 9,000 residents live in the City region.
A testing centre in Guildhall Yard has managed the bulk of Covid tests for the area, carrying out more than 12,000 tests since it was first opened last October.
The NHS earlier this week rolled out mass testing in parts of London over fears new coronavirus mutations could be spreading through the community.
Residents in the London boroughs of Ealing, Haringey and Croydon will receive either home test kits or knocks on the door asking them to test for the South African variant, after health officials identified 105 cases of the mutation across the country last week.