Todmorden, Park and Warley ward people urged to get PCR test for COVID-19 as Delta cases rise

The walk-up tests are for everyone, with or without symptoms, with no appointment needed as the council is acting now to try and prevent further spread of COVID-19 across the whole of Calderdale, and in the areas where there are high and rising case rates.

PCR tests are usually for people with COVID symptoms but they can be used for anyone when their local council asks people to take them.

The council says will help protect Todmorden Park and Warley communities from increasing cases and from new strains of the virus that spread more easily.

The council says: “We have seen an increase in cases of the Delta variant of concern (first identified in India) across the borough in the most recent weeks and the numbers are increasing quickly.

“There is a cluster of cases of the Delta variant in people that live in the Todmorden area.

“Our local contact tracers are also working to track down people that test positive with the Delta variant, right across the borough.

“They identify the people they may have exposed to the virus and their contacts and advise them all to take a PCR test, whether or not they have symptoms.”

Public Health Director Deborah Harkins said last week following news that some people attending at the Todmorden Leisure Centre testing site without symptoms were turned away that this should not have happened and she had been told the issue had been resolved and would not happen again.

On social media on June 9 she said about the number of Delta cases in Todmorden: “Genetic sequencing takes time to process, so situation worse now than data shows.

“In most recent two-week period 120 delta cases in Calderdale residents and 40 of these were people that live in Todmorden. Todmorden number doubled in less than a week.

“We felt we couldn’t sit and wait for the numbers to get worse before we decided to act.

“Cases found by the Extra Testing will be prioritised for sequencing so will give us a much better picture of the situation in Todmorden and in other areas of Calderdale.”

Todmorden, Park and Warley residents without symptoms can get a COVID-19 test at the following existing testing sites, which have been designated as extra testing sites: Asda overflow car park, Thrum Hall Lane, Halifax, 8am to 8pm every day; Daisy Street Car Park, Brighouse, open 8am to 8pm every day; Mobile Testing Unit, Todmorden Leisure Centre, Ewood Lane, Todmorden, open 9am to 5pm every day; and Mobile Testing Unit, Rose Street, Bramsche Square, Todmorden, 9am to 5.30pm every day to Sunday, June 20.