Johnstone, Renfrewshire, will be offered results in just 45 minutes over the next week. The town is in a level-four restriction area and was chosen because of its worryingly high level of infection compared with other regions.
However, the pilot scheme has been criticised for being too small and too late. Scottish health secretary Jeane Freeman marked the start of the new unit as an "important milestone".Freeman said: "There is no need to book in advance and I encourage everyone who lives, works or attends school in Johnstone to get tested over the next week.