Opened at the start of December, Kingston University’s coronavirus testing centre is still running despite the university’s closure and now welcomes asymptomatic key workers in the area.
Head of Public Affairs and Insight at Kingston University, Jennifer Edwards, said: “I think it’s a huge success. Personally, I have been really inspired to work on it, it’s been really not only vital for the university’s community but for the local area too.
“It’s really important that the facility is open for students, whether they use it when they return to campus or whether students who are coming for particular healthcare courses can use it at the moment,“ Edwards said.
The university, in partnership with Kingston Council, decided to open the testing centre in Penrhyn Road for asymptomatic key workers after the UK government announced another lockdown.
“Key workers can come and get a free test. It made immense amount of sense to work together and ensure that we can play our part to safeguard the local community.
“Kingston has one of the highest testing rates in London and the university has played a significant part in that. We have now completed more than 5,000 tests since the testing centre opened which demonstrates a significant contribution and safeguards our whole community.
“At the moment a lot of our students are not able to come back to campus so that does mean we have more capacity at the testing centre for key workers. However, when our students come back to campus, they will have the absolute priority to do the testing,” Edwards said.
Edwards talks about how the university prepared for testing, why the Outreach centre was chosen and how long the testing site is expected to run in the River TV video below.
Amelia Jones 
Hermione Marszalek