Covid-19: Town’s Rapid Coronavirus Testing Centres Close As Snow Sweeps Across Parts Of England

All three rapid COVID testing centres in Luton have been shut because of snow in the area, the council has said, while other parts of England have also woken up to snowfall.

Confirming the decision on Twitter, the council said it would be closing the centres “for the safety of the public and our staff”

But social media users have complained of a lack of snow, with some branding the council’s move “utterly embarrassing”. “Just been to the shop….more ‘snow’ in a snow globe!!!” wrote one Twitter user, while others said closing the testing sites was a “bizarre decision”.

Luton had a rate of new COVID cases in the seven days to 11 January of 808.3, according to Public Health England data. That was down from 961.7 on the previous week.

It comes after the Met Office warned that parts of southeast England and East Anglia will continue to see further snow on Saturday.

Temperatures are expected to be around 0C (32F) in parts of eastern England and Scotland for much of the day.

Between 4-8cm of snow could fall in the worst-affected regions, with drivers warned to accelerate their cars gently and give space between the vehicle in front.

An amber snow alert was put in place for the east of England until 2pm, with yellow snow warnings for the South East until 8pm.

People have been told to expect travel delays, power cuts and a chance that rural communities could be “cut off”.

A further yellow snow and ice warning has been issued in a band stretching from the Midlands to the top of Scotland until 6pm on Saturday.

The Met Office said there was a likelihood of “delays or cancellations to rail and air travel, possible travel delays on roads stranding some vehicles and passengers”.

Parts of Wales and Northern Ireland will be mostly cloudy, with some bands of rain in the northern regions.

Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “Areas in eastern England and around the M25 could see up to 8cm of snow, especially as Saturday progresses.

“Other areas in England and Scotland will see some snowfall here and there, with Saturday being the colder of the two days over the weekend.

“Temperatures are unlikely to rise above 10C, with a lot of areas closer to freezing.”

There are also 25 flood warnings across England from the South East to the North East, although these are expected to clear up in the evening.

On Sunday, southern and eastern parts of the UK will see dry, sunny spells while northwestern regions are expected to have showers and a “spell of more persistent rain” later in the day, according to the Environment Agency.