Hundreds of new drive through coronavirus testing slots have been made available in Kent after appointments began running low on Monday - a day after the county was plunged into Tier 4.

But a check of what is currently available shows those in parts of Kent without access to a car may struggle.

In Maidstone, people are offered tests more than eight miles away at a walk in centre Chatham during a time when when people are being urged to stay at home.

And in Dartford, one of the nearest walk though centres on offer is seven miles away in Bexley.

Yesterday afternoon testing sites were severely limited.

As of 4pm on Monday a Maidstone resident searching for a test was only offered the drive-through option at Margate's Dreamland site, a journey of 45 miles, or at Heathrow, more than 60 miles away.

Time slots ranged from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Dreamland, but as of yesterday no options for Dreamland were offered for today or Wednesday.

A check this morning found 942 slots had since been added.

During a search today, other walk through appointments in Maidstone have now been made available at the Shepway Youth Centre, 2.1 miles from the town centre, and Ditton Youth Centre, 5.3 miles from the town centre.

For people in Swale - the borough with the 10th worst Covid-19 rate in England - drive through centres are the only option with the nearest currently in Medway.

Although, this will change in the new year as a new facility is set to open in Sittingbourne.

On Friday, December 18, a new mass testing site opened on Sheppey for people not showing any symptoms, but this does not show up on the government website as it is only open to invited key workers.

The targeted asymptomatic testing, organised by Kent County Council (KCC), at Sheerness East Working Men's Club in Halfway opened as part of plans to drive down cases in the borough.

The latest figures show 697.4 people per 100,000 tested positive in Kent over the last seven days, that's 243.6 more than the previous week.

The above average statistics, and exposure to a new, faster spreading strain of the virus, are what moved Kent into a new level of lockdown restrictions known as Tier 4 on Saturday.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Anyone who needs a test can get one. Tests are available at sites in London and Kent, available to order for home delivery, and we have also launched a targeted community testing drive in both areas with additional capacity.

“We are testing at an unprecedented scale and more than 46 million tests have been processed in total - more than any other comparable European country - and the average distance to travel for a test is now just 2.3 miles.”

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