IS IT time to open the Isle of Wight's Covid testing centre seven days a week, in line with the rest of the country? This is the question posed by County Press columnist Jonathan Young, who uncovered that the Isle of Wight has possibly the only centre in the UK — barring Northern Ireland — that closes on Sundays.

However, in a recent statement to the County Press, officials said the centre, at Newclose, was keeping up with demand.

Mr Young said: "Testing loses much of its point if it's not done promptly, so people who need to self-isolate while they may be infectious can be told to do so.

"The centre's daily capacity is irrelevant to the problem. This penny doesn't yet seem to have dropped in some quarters.

"With cases spiking at an alarming rate, I wouldn't like to be the person having to explain to Islanders why they're possibly the only people in the country who can't drive to a testing centre on a Sunday.

"I feel the Newclose opening hours should be reviewed urgently."

The government website says all centres are open seven days a week, but the Isle of Wight and Northern Ireland have their own timetables.

More than 700 testing sites are now open across the country, and the average distance to travel to a test site is just 2.4 miles.

The Isle of Wight only has the one centre, however.

In a response to Mr Young, IW Council chief executive John Metcalfe emailed: "I can confirm that the facility has never opened on a Sunday, but does have capacity to deal with the Island’s needs over the remaining days.

"This is under constant review by the Clinical Commissioning Group which is responsible for provision of the service.

"As an alternative, people could opt for a postal test at any time."