The Government has revealed locations of five walk-in COVID-19 testing centres.
The pop-up centres are opening in locations in Dublin and Offaly, two counties where new cases of coronavirus have remained stubbornly high.
The aim of the pop-up centres is to try to get a feel for how and why COVID-19 is spreading faster in certain areas.
Around one-in-five with COVID-19 present with no symptoms at all, so expanded testing aims to find some of these people and understand the transmission levels.
Four of the centres will be in Dublin, the other is in Co Offaly.
Walk-in testing units will be open at:
- National Aquatic Centre – Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 - D15HT9N
- Tallaght Stadium – Tallaght, Dublin 24 – D24FNK6
- Irish Town Stadium – Irishtown, Dublin 4 – D04KN77
- Tullamore Leisure Centre - Tullamore – R35A594
- Grangegorman Primary Care Centre car park, (Entrance off NCR)-beside TUD campus - D07VPT0
Liz Canavan from the Department of Taoiseach says the locations are where COVID-19 cases have been high.
She explained: “Increasing the number of people we test will help us better understand why the virus is spreading quicker in certain areas.
“Testing people with no symptoms will help us find positive cases earlier and allow these people to take the necessary action to protect others.”
The centres will open tomorrow from 11am until 7pm and remain open for a week.
People don’t need an appointment to get tested.
People who have no symptoms of COVID-19 and are within 5km of these locations can attend.
Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 is being asked not to go to these centres, but to instead phone their GP.
