Aberdeen International airport has opened a drive through coronavirus testing centre at its Park and Depart facility on Wellheads Road.
Similar to facilities which have opened at Gatwick and Stansted airports, the centre will offer up to five testing lanes, and is operating on an appointment basis for self-isolating key workers, or self-isolating members of their family, who will be contacted directly by their employer.
Samples from the testing site will be analysed at labs using Thermo Fisher Scientific test machines loaned by universities across the country and public sector research establishments, with key workers receiving their test results “within a few days”.
It is the 15th such centre to open across the UK, as part of the government’s drive to ramp up testing for key workers.
Christopher Littlejohn, Deputy Director of Public Health, NHS Grampian said that it was “an extremely welcome development as it effectively doubles our capacity for keyworker testing in Grampian”.
Meanwhile Steve Szalay, Aberdeen International airport’s managing director, commented:
“The national response to this global pandemic has been nothing short of remarkable. We have seen a wide and diverse range of businesses make their services and expertise available in the fight against this virus and we were keen to help in any way.
“We are in regular contact with both the UK and Scottish governments as Aberdeen Airport continues to both support lifeline passenger flights and essential oil and gas services, however, we’ve also stressed that we were ready to offer support and make our facilities available.
“The Park and Depart facility on Wellheads Road is an ideal space for a testing facility and we were more than happy to make it available given COVID-19 impacts us all.”
