Queen’s University is set to open a walk-in Covid-19 test centre on campus from Friday.
It has also welcomed the move to open mobile testing units at Ulster University sites.
The walk-in centre in Belfast will be located at the Physical Education Centre (PEC) site on the Queen’s campus and will be available to members of the local community as well as students and staff.
The University said it has been working with the Public Health Agency (PHA) over recent weeks to implement the centre on its premises.
This is part of the Department of Health’s (DHSC) public testing programme, through which everyone in Northern Ireland with symptoms of COVID-19 is eligible for a free test.
Queen's said this will help ensure a robust public health response "as we move through the next stages of the pandemic and will provide additional capacity of approximately 2,000 tests per week".
A spokesperson added: "The availability of a walk-in testing centre on campus provides students with greater access to testing and further enhance measures to mitigate the risk of spread on campus.
"The announcement follows a pilot testing programme that was carried out by Queen’s and Ulster University in collaboration with the Public Health Agency in August to examine the prevalence of current and past infection within the student community.
"In the study of 500 asymptomatic participants, no students tested positive for COVID-19 and 6% of participants were found to have antibodies suggesting prior infection.
"This is in line with previous studies that have been conducted in England to assess the prevalence of antibodies amongst the general population. No such study has been conducted in Northern Ireland.
"Queen’s University fully supports the PHA testing efforts and is committed to playing a key role in the public response to the COVID-19 pandemic to assure the safety of the wider community in Northern Ireland."
The walk-in test centre will be open from Friday, September 25. Access to testing at the centre will be by appointment only and can booked online or by calling 119.
