A COMMUNITY testing centre at a college is closing after a "more robust and permanent solution" was found.

For the past nine weeks, Fareham College has been used as a Covid-19 community testing centre.

Run by Fareham Borough Council, in partnership with Hampshire County Council, the centre has offered "rapid" testing for borough residents but is now due to close on Friday.

It is said that this is because a "more robust and permanent solution" has been found, with 515 pharmacies across the county now offering the service.

A Fareham Borough Council spokesperson said: "The Council would like to take this opportunity to thank Fareham College for accommodating the testing centre over the past nine weeks and also the charitable organisation, One Community, that supplied the fantastic volunteers who staffed the site."

The Government recommends that everyone without coronavirus symptoms should still test themselves regularly with the new pharmacy service set up for people with no symptoms.

Anyone experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 is being asked to not attend a pharmacy for testing, but instead book a test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.

Pharmacy tests are only able to be booked by people aged 16 and over with secondary school aged children continuing to get their tests at school.