MORE Covid-19 testing site are to open this weekend.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum has worked with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to secure more locations for walk-in testing sites, which are operated on behalf of the DHSC by Serco and Sodexo.

New sites will open in Northallerton and Selby this weekend, to be followed shortly by another in Skipton. These join existing sites in Harrogate and Scarborough and supplement the mobile testing units that are regularly deployed around the county.

The Northallerton testing site will be outside The Forum on Bullamoor Road, DL6 1LP. It is scheduled to be erected this week and come in full operation from Sunday, November 29.

The Selby site will be in Portholme Crescent car park, YO8 4QH, and is scheduled to be fully operational from Saturday, November 28.

The local testing sites offer Covid-19 testing from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. Appointments must be booked in advance. Book a test on the County Council’s website, www.northyorks.gov.uk/book-coronavirus-covid-19-test, or by calling 119.

Local testing sites take bookings from within a radius of 10 miles. Mobile testing units will continue to run alongside these with a range of 75 miles.

Richard Flinton, chair of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, said: “These additional permanent testing sites further expand North Yorkshire’s testing capabilities.

“The greater testing capacity enables us to exert more control over the spread of this virus and to make the best use of resources by releasing mobile testing units to be deployed to the places that need them most.

“The new local testing sites allow those without a vehicle to be tested quickly, giving them more choice and being more accessible to all residents.

“With the onset of winter, the indoor sites also offer staff a warm, dry place in which to carry out tests.”