Around 100 people queued for more than an hour in the water while waiting for Covid’s test – just being told that the kittens were not to be found out for the South African variety on reach.
Staff told residents that only the standard lateral flow test facilities available are less accurate than the PCR test facilities and cannot identify the South African variant.
One employee at the test center in Splashworld said: ‘We have not yet tested for South African snoring but hope to start testing tomorrow.’
Southport is one of several areas in the UK where the new strain of coronavirus has been discovered, along with Bristol, Liverpool and parts of London.
The Government has launched an effort to swab 80,000 people in eight areas of England where various cases have been found, to stop it spreading further.
People living in PR9 postcode are asked to get tested as soon as possible, with door-to-door tests in place.
Following that advice, long queues of people hurried to get tested at Splashworld, which offers SMART testing.
Pictured: About 100 people were queued in bad weather for a test for the South African variant in Southport alone to tell them that the correct kittens had not yet been delivered to the test center.
But this combination left dozens of people who had arrived for a test for South African snoring today feeling upset and sad.
Barry Harper, 72, a retired engineer, said: ‘I saw him on the news telling everyone to come and get a test and that’s what I did.
‘I thought the new tests would be here but now we have been told it will be there tomorrow.
‘It’s weird because I feel like I’ve lost my time.’
Aarron Williams, 39, a builder, said: ‘I still work on site and do work at people’ s homes, so I want to make sure I don’t have a Covid-19.
‘This new pressure is worrying but we hope the injection will work against it.’
Southport has been identified as one of several places in the UK where the new emphasis has been found
A long line running around the edge of Splash World, in South Port, at the entrance walkway. Waiting for the test, people of all ages were affected by the winter conditions.
Lesley Arthur, 55, a healthcare worker, said: ‘I was hoping to be tested for the new snoring but I was told the kittens are not here.
‘It’s busier than I expected. I’ve been waiting a little over an hour now and the weather isn’t good.
‘I just want a piece of mind that I’m free from Covid so I can keep working and not give it to anyone else.’
Jacob Masson, 24, a floor fitter, said: ‘My boss contacted me last night to say I need to get a negative test before I can work.
We’re in and out of customers ’homes so it’s the right thing to do.
Sefton Council, which is responsible for testing tests in Southport, says new equipment is due to be delivered today and a door-to-door testing team should be carried out tomorrow.
‘I came here today thinking I would be tested for the new pressure, but if it comes back negative, that’s the most important thing.
‘I have to get tested for the South African variety later.’
Experts fear the strain could avoid protection with vaccines or increase the risk of people getting Covid for a second time.
Residents in the affected areas have been urged to stick to home stay rules while the government scrambles to eradicate changing versions of the deadly disease.
Sefton Council, which is in charge of testing in Southport, said the PCR test facilities are to be delivered today with the aim of conducting door-to-door tests from tomorrow.
Sefton’s Director of Public Health, Margaret Jones, said: ‘Finding issues of South Africa’s new COVID-19 variant and reducing the number of people who may be exposed to it is vital, and that is that is why we are focusing testing facilities on the area and trying to make it as easy as possible for people to get tested.
In an urgent effort to monitor the South African divergence that experts fear could affect the current vaccine crop, health officials are making swabs in Woking in Surrey, Walsall in the mid-west, as well as parts of London, Kent, Hertfordshire and Lancashire
‘Anyone over the age of 16 can go in and get tested without a prescription and I would urge them to do so as soon as possible until we release any release of the new variety in the bud. ‘
The council said there were details of where a mobile test unit could be set up and that they should be ready for tomorrow.
She also said a team of people are knocking on doors to provide and assemble home testing facilities for local residents.
Mobile Test Units has been operating in Sefton since April with a Southport walk-in test center located at Splash World.
The council encouraged key staff and people with care commitments to visit regularly for testing.
It was announced last night that 11 patients with South African variant disease did not have travel links, suggesting the strain may already be spreading in the community.
People who do the routine test cannot be told whether they are behaving differently in South Africa, but the plan aims to find positive issues among people without symptoms in an attempt to separate them before they can catch others. .