UP to 44  and their families can be tested every day at a new facility in Bury town centre.

The testing site at Humphrey House in Angouleme Way was set up to test health and social care staff but is being rolled out to other key workers too.

A spokesman for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, which is staffing the site, said it has a capacity to test up to 44 members of staff a day on average.

Dr Jeff Schryer, Bury NHS clinical commissioning group (CCG) chair, reavealed that individuals living in the same household as staff can also be tested.

He said: “There’s still not enough testing being done, it’s still not as widely available as it should be, but it’s improving.”

The drive-through centres are being delivered by staff from the NCA, along with others sites in Rochdale, Oldham and Salford.

There is also a testing facility operating at Manchester Airport which is available for frontline staff, including non-health service and social care staff.

The tests in Bury are available for frontline health and social care staff and their family members if they are displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

Bury Council chief executive Geoff Little explained that those eligble for the tests must be self-isolating at home and have the approval of their manager.

This service is only available for those eligible employees, and individuals who live with them, and not local residents of the area, and members of the public are asked not to attend the drive-through locations as they cannot be tested for COVID-19 at this time.

All current social isolation and distancing measures are followed by healthcare staff working at the testing facilities.

Anyone attending the “drive through” facilities travel in their own private vehicle which they do not leave at any time as they are only required to roll down the driver’s seat window to enable a member of staff to collect a throat swab sample.

They then drive directly home once their sample has been collected for testing.

Samples are usually analysed within 48 hours, allowing those who test negative to return to work as soon as possible.