‘Shambles’ as People Cross Border for COVID-19 Test Despite Wales Lockdown

People from Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, and Cirencester, say the only place they could book a test was in the village of Abercynon, South Wales, where COVID-19 cases are surging. They were left angered and frustrated at having to cross the border to Rhondda Cynon Taf for a COVID-19 test on the same day the Welsh county borough went back into lockdown.

A total of 240,000 people have now been affected by the tough new measures following a rapid rise in coronavirus cases. Nobody will be allowed to enter or leave the area without reasonable excuse. The tougher restrictions were brought in at 6 pm last night (Thursday, September 17).

People from Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, and Cirencester, say the only place they could book a test was in the village of Abercynon where COVID-19 cases are surging. Many have slammed the testing regime as a “shambles” and a huge number of people queuing for tests at a centre expressly set up for residents in the South Wales borough were from England.

One woman from Weston-super-Mare said, quote: “Two days trying to book a test and this was the only place – it’s terrible when you’re trying to get your kids tested, for other peoples’ safety, and nobody knows what they’re doing.”

A care worker from Gloucestershire, who did not give her name, travelled to Abercynon with her two elderly parents who have been displaying coronavirus symptoms since the weekend. She said: “They rang me on Monday saying they weren’t feeling very well after I just did three 12-hour shifts in a care home.”

Other families travelled to Wales from Cirencester and Reading while one woman, from Blakeney in Gloucestershire, added: “They said it was a drive-thru, not stand outside for an hour in the wind in an area that’s going into lockdown tonight, which I think is a little bit of a joke, to be honest.” Another woman, who did not give her name, travelled one hour and 35 minutes from Taunton for a test and now is unable to go work and has to wait around until she receives her results.

She said: “I work with vulnerable adults so I’ve not been able to go to work and when you’re on a phone trying to book an appointment for you to get on with your life and you can’t, it’s really, really frustrating. We are the ones being penalised giving up our time, not being able to go to work, I’ve got three small children in the car – I don’t want them stood in this queue.

“It’s not a direct message to anybody it’s just a bit of a shambles, really, isn’t it?”

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