Submitting... Now, the UK government has instructed the local authority - via the Scottish Government - to open up eight new centres by April. A briefing note, sent to councillors on Tuesday February 16, reads: “We have been approached by the Scottish Government on behalf of the UK Government to provide a further eight Local Testing Sites (LTS) in Edinburgh. “This expansion aims to: Close the gap between the number of people being tested and the estimated number of daily new cases in the mid- to long-term; Focus on areas of higher deprivation and low car ownership to increase access to testing; and maximise the amount of people with symptoms who get tested, by making testing easy to access (and then support these individuals to self-isolate, contact trace their contacts, and break chains of transmission).