THREE Covid-19 testing sites are set to close in York after national changes to isolation rules and testing regimes in the UK.

The symptom free testing sites at the University of York, York St John University and Foxwood Community Centre will be operating on reduced hours before their closure on March 25. Staff at these testing centres will be standing by to provide advice for anyone in attendance with questions about the transition.

The national changes to Covid rules, which came into force from February 24, removed the legal requirement for people to self-isolate following a positive test and ended self-isolation support payments. National funding for practical support and the medicine delivery service is also no longer be available. Routine contact tracing has also come to an end, while from April 1 free lateral flow tests will no longer be available to the public and will in most cases have to be purchased.

Fiona Phillips, assistant director of public health at City of York Council: “City of York Council is working hard to adapt to the changes in Government policy and the seismic changes they represent for our public health response.

"However, it is important to stress that York can be immensely proud of the success of its public health response in driving vaccination rates and providing easy access to Covid tests.

“Covid is still with us - and it is still important for people to take reasonable precautions with the virus.”

Symptom free testing kits can be collected from the University of York and Foxwood Community Centre until March 25 - and from the York St John University testing site until March 27.

Over the course of the pandemic, hundreds of volunteers have answered the call to help combat the virus, while residents have diligently followed public health advice and done all that could be asked of them.

York has conducted over 72,000 assisted Covid tests since the start of the pandemic between testing sites cross the city. Alongside this, outreach teams have been travelling to various communities in York to hand out over 540,000 lateral-flow tests, as well as leaflets on vaccinations.

Councillor Carol Runciman, executive member for health and adult social care at City of York Council, said: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our staff and partners who have worked tirelessly at the testing sites and on the local track and trace scheme. Their work has played a significant role in reducing the spread of Covid in York and we are immensely grateful for their efforts.

“Whilst restrictions have now been lifted, we should continue to take reasonable precautions to protect each other to ensure we can safely move on with our lives."