North Somerset’s rapid testing service has gone mobile to enable as many people to access it as possible.

North Somerset Council has transferred its testing sites to mobile units, which will also enable the authority to respond to increasing case rates in different parts of the district.

The static testing service at Somerset Hall in Portishead closed on Wednesday, and the town will now join Clevedon, Nailsea and Weston on the mobile schedule with the van calling at Portishead Lake Grounds on Tuesdays.

The van operates from 8.30am-6pm on Monday to Friday and from 10am-5pm at weekends. People can pick up rapid home testing kits from the mobile units, or take a test on site.

Mobile testing service schedule:

Clevedon’s Queen’s Square - Mondays and Thursdays

Portishead Lake Grounds (by the open air pool) - Tuesdays

Weston’s For All Healthy Living Centre, in Lonsdale Avenue - Wednesdays

Nailsea’s Scotch Horn car park, in Brockway – Friday

Weston seafront, near the Tropicana – Saturdays and Sundays

North Somerset Council is hoping to bring a second mobile unit to North Somerset in the next few weeks. In the meantime, the testing team is based at Hutton Moor car park, in Weston, on Monday to Friday from 8.30am-6pm and from 9am-1.30pm at weekends.

Regular rapid Covid testing helps to identify cases in people who have no symptoms, and stops the spread of the virus.

Everyone can now get twice-weekly free rapid Covid tests. They should only be used if you have no symptoms of the virus.

Kits can be collected from the council’s sites and testing van, from Locking Road car park, and from some pharmacies. They can also be ordered online at www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests