Thousands of Scots are to be tested for Covid-19 as Nicola Sturgeon steps up the fight against the virus.
The first minister said “huge” efforts are being made to expand the number of coronavirus tests to 3,000-a-day amid concerns that not enough are being done.
Cancer screenings are to be “paused” to free up resources to increase testing and the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) in Glasgow transformed into a field hospital to relieve the pressure on the NHS.
The plans were revealed as the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country rose to 47, an increase of six on Sunday’s figure.
There are now 108 people in intensive care who either have the virus or are suspected to have it, an increase of 13 in the past 24 hours.
The number of positive coronavirus cases has risen to 1,563 – up 179 from Sunday’s total.
At her daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon said tests are currently being carried out on around 800 people per day.
“We are taking steps over the next few weeks to build that up to 3,000 and we are going to go beyond that,” Ms Sturgeon said.
“We are very focused and a huge amount of work is under way right now to expand the capacity of our lab network in Scotland so that we can do more tests and that will obviously enable more tests on (health and care) workers to be done.”
The target is for all tests, although key health and care workers will be prioritised. Ms Sturgeon also said discussions with private companies are taking place at a UK level to further increase testing capacity. An additional laboratory in Glasgow is about to become operational as part of that drive.
Concern has been expressed that not enough NHS and care staff are getting tested, meaning that some are having to self-isolate as a precautionary measure when it might be that they don’t have the virus.
Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs called for more testing to be introduced for key workers as a matter of urgency.
“I have been raising this with the Scottish Government for the past 10 days because NHS and social care staff are desperate to have the opportunity to be tested so they know if they can continue working plus protect their families, colleagues and patients,” Mr Briggs, Tory MSP for Lothian, said.
“Up to 20% of NHS and social care staff could be affected, and the tests can help get them back to work safely. We know that in other countries they have been doing more tests to try and stop the spread. This is something we have to put resources into.”
The UK-wide target is for 25,000 daily tests, a figure that is behind the German figure of 70,000 per day. Currently, the UK capacity is for 10,949 tests a day.
Asked why the UK was behind Germany, Boris Johnson’s spokesman said there had been difficulties getting equipment at a time of huge demand.
Cancer screening to be suspended
Ms Sturgeon said there would be a temporary suspension of breast, bowel, cervical, abdominal aortic aneurysm and diabetic retinopathy screening.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, however, it is important to maximise the ability of the NHS to cope over the coming weeks,” the first minister said.
“We will restart the screening programmes we have paused as soon as we can, this is a temporary suspension and it will be reviewed after 12 weeks or earlier, if evidence suggests restarting the programme is feasible.
“However, at this moment pausing these programmes is an important way of allowing the NHS to deal with impact of Covid-19.”
Anyone who develops symptoms that would usually be screened for – such as breast lumps – should contact their GP, the First Minister said.
Screening of pregnant women and newborn babies will continue as normal.
By halting the other screening programmes, the Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood said NHS staff in laboratories could instead work on testing for Covid-19, helping to provide “that vital increase in the capacity for testing for coronavirus that we need.”
The SEC field hospital could be up and running within two weeks, providing 300 extra beds initially, with this potentially increasing to 1,000.
