People who test positive for Covid-19 at a mass testing centre in Fife are being offered food and advice.
Fife Council is providing grocery bags and help to access financial support to anyone who needs to begin self-isolating immediately.
It hopes the assistance at the Maxwell Centre in Cowdenbeath will remove some of the problems people face when asked to isolate at short notice.
The Cowdenbeath testing centre opened last week and is the first in Fife for those without Covid-19 symptoms.
One in three people who test positive have no symptoms, meaning they can be spreading it to family and friends without knowing.
We are here to help support you if you need to self-isolate.”
Nigel Kerr.
All residents of Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and Lumphinnans are being asked to go along and take a test to see if they might unknowingly be Covid-19 positive.
They can then take immediate steps to self-isolate and stop the disease from spreading.
Impact of self-isolating
Nigel Kerr, head of protective services in Fife, said: “We know that there are a lot of people who aren’t self-isolating simply because they don’t know they are Covid positive.
“There are also others who may be worried about taking a test because they are worried about the impact of self-isolating on their job, finances or family.
“We understand that being asked to self-isolate at short notice can present you with a lot of problems.
“Not everyone may be lucky enough to have family, friends or good neighbours nearby who can help with things like getting groceries or picking up prescriptions.
“Some people are only a week’s wages away from absolute poverty and can’t afford not to work.”
Mr Kerr added: “We don’t want these things to be a barrier to people getting tested and that’s why we have put so much support in place, directly in the centre.
“We are here to help support you if you need to self-isolate.”
Confidential support
Dedicated, confidential support will be available on site.
In addition, grocery bags containing basic supplies for the whole family can be taken home.
The Cowdenbeath centre is one of five pop-up sites being rolled out across Fife in the coming weeks.
NHS Fife and Fife Council are also introducing mobile testing units.
In addition, a walk-through testing centre has just opened at Overton Community Centre in Kirkcaldy.
It is the 30th site across Scotland and can perform 300 tests a day.
Tests can be booked by logging on to nhsinform.scot/test-and-protect or calling 0800 028 2816.
