Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid said the Aberdeen Airport coronavirus testing facility was an”excellent” operation that is operating like “clockwork” during a visit yesterday.
The Scotland Office Minster was given a tour of the facility as staff explained how the system had coped during local lockdown.
He thanked the Aberdeen team for their “contribution to our fight against coronavirus”.
Pictures by Kenny Elrick
Demand for the facility was clear yesterday, with the designated testing lanes remaining busy as a steady stream of cars entered the drive-through site.
Up to 1,000 tests can be carried out at the airport each day if demand is high but some have experienced issues with the online booking system – finding the nearest test site to be over 100 miles away.
Aberdeenshire mum shocked to be told only available Covid-19 test centre is 200 miles away
Mr Duguid said these were “isolated cases” and advised people to wait a few minutes and refresh the page.
“There have been some issues with the booking systems but I’m told, because I’ve looked into it on behalf of my own constituents, that these are very isolated cases,” he said.
“When I first went online to book for myself and my family, it gave me Inverness only but I went out and back in again and Aberdeen and Peterhead came up.
“The UK government set very ambitious targets at the beginning to get to 200,000 capacity a day and we’re managing to keep at that level.”
Ultimately, the UK government is hoping to reduce capacity for tests when the demand decreases as this would reflect a decrease in deaths from the virus and a lower infection rate.
But as long as there is a need to test for coronavirus, testing capacity will be maintained.
Mr Duguid added: “There was never going to be a perfect way of doing this. Certainly not first time, we’re learning as we go along.”
