Door to door Covid testing rolled out in South Norwood and Thornton Heath to find Brazilian variant
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
Door to door coronavirus testing is now underway in two Croydon neighbourhoods following the discovery of the new Brazilian variant.
On Friday the Government announced that a person with the variant was identified as living in the borough.
It followed a week of tracing as the person had left no contact details on their test.
Extra testing is now taking place in South Norwood and Thornton Heath to identify any further cases of the Covid-19 variant, although at this stage there is no evidence of further transmission.
Door-to-door testing started on Sunday and further ways to get tested are expected to be announced this week. The surge testing will last for two weeks.
Despite the enhanced testing, there are no additional restrictions in place in South Norwood or Thornton Heath and normal lockdown rules apply.
Rachel Flowers, Croydon’s director of public health, said: “We are launching extra testing, delivering home test kits to some households from Sunday, and will share more information as soon as we can.
“By getting tested, you can help to prevent the virus spreading, protecting yourself and your loved ones, while enabling better understanding of this variant. There is currently no evidence to suggest this variant of Covid-19 is more serious than others, or that the vaccine would not protect against it.”
One Twitter user said that specific postcodes should be released.
They wrote: “I’m in South Norwood and no door to door testers where I live, it would be nice to know which post codes are affected.”
While another pointed out that if the variant had spread it would not stick to ward boundaries, they said: “Hope that canny virus doesn’t cross the boundary between Thornton Heath and SE19 [Upper Norwood].”
It is the second area in Croydon where surge testing has been introduced.
Additional testing in New Addington and Fieldway was set to end on Monday following a case of the South African variant of the virus.
South Norwood and Thornton Heath residents who have any of the Covid-19 symptoms should continue to get tested in the usual way by booking at www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.
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