A local council has teamed up with an independent retailer to provide Covid-19 testing in the community.

“Hundreds” of tests have been conducted at Nisa Local High Heath in Walsall after shop owner Harjit Singh was asked to lend a hand.

A mobile testing van was positioned outside the shop with testing staff offering tests to customers. Singh told Better Retailing: “We’ve done a lot of work with the council in the past year and so they phoned and asked if we could host their mobile testing centre.

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“We’ve had a fantastic response. They say they normally only conduct around six or seven tests, but we had 47 people get tested on the first day. Now they’ll be here every Thursday and Friday.”

The Department of Health commissioned more than 100 mobile testing vans last May, operated by the Armed Forces and made available to local authorities.

A further 500 mobile testing vans rolled out this month. Many councils have also developed their own units.

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Asked whether the testing unit was good for business, Singh responded: “It’s mixed. It’s been well received, but there are customers that don’t like being interrupted as they leave the shop.”

The store is also looking to bolster its community and litter-picking work with talks underway with local authorities to purchase a road sweeper. “We’ll run competitions where customers can win a prize by sending in a picture of it out and about.”

Find out more on our coronavirus information hub for retailers