Coronavirus: IKEA Gateshead site to be used as COVID-19 test centre for NHS staff

An IKEA spokesperson has revealed the centre, in the store’s car park, will come into use on Thursday, April 9 – with the company speaking of its pride in supporting the NHS.

The company said: ”We can confirm that a test centre for NHS staff will open in the car park of IKEA Gateshead on Thursday 9th April.

“We are enormously proud of the NHS and proud to support them and the government in this small way. We will continue to support them in the best way we can.

“Prioritising those leading relief efforts and the needs of high-risk groups, we are also working on additional plans together with the NHS, the Red Cross and our charity partners Barnardo’s and Breaking Barriers to support our communities, both now and in the longer-term.”

The North East store is on Pinetree Way, Gateshead.

On Tuesday, March 31 the furniture giant announced its flagship store at Wembley in London as IKEA’s first location to host a drive-through NHS test centre in its car park.

A company spokesman confirmed then that it was working alongside the Government to identify any additional IKEA sites which could be used to “support the national effort” in the same way.

Official figures released by Public Health England and the NHS on Tuesday, April 7 confirmed that 55,242 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK.

There have been 6,159 deaths, with 5,655 of these in England.

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