Working together to halt pandemic
First case of coronavirus passing between Scots recorded as number infected soars
CASES of coronavirus in Scotland could be traced to travel and contact. Until yesterday.
The latest positive result here was unrelated to either, signalling a shift in transmission.
Numbers are rising more rapidly but the country’s chief medical officer says this is to be expected.
Scotland remains in the “containment” phase, to use the official term.
But it is clear positive cases of Covid-19 will continue to keep going up.
And the Government is going to need to put more effort into expanding the NHS’s ability to cope.
The World Health Organisation says all countries can still change the course of this pandemic.
It is vital that everyone follows NHS advice. Do what you can to limit the spread.
The way we live our lives is going to change.
HEALTH SECRETARY JEANNE FREEMAN
SCOTLAND’S first community transmitted case of coronavirus has been recorded – meaning it has passed from person to person.
It was confirmed yesterday as the numbers infected rose by nine to 36, which is the biggest increase in a single day since the outbreak began.
And the World Health Organisation has declared coronavirus to be a “pandemic”.
Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood said yesterday: “We have identified the first case of community transmission in Scotland which is unrelated to contact or travel. This was identified through our enhanced surveillance scheme.
“It is important to emphasise we are still in the containment phase.
“This case was to be expected and highlights the importance of the additional measures we have put in place to identify positive cases beyond self-identification.”
There are now two cases in each of Fife, Borders, Forth Valley, Tayside and Shetland, three in Ayrshire, four in Lanarkshire, five in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, six in Grampian and eight in Lothian.
Only Dumfries and Galloway, Highland, Orkney and the Western Isles remain coronavirus free.
The news comes on the day Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said NHS modelling showed a third of Scotland’s doctors and nurses could be struck down with coronavirus.
She added that it could result in an NHS absence rate of up to 30 per cent and admitted that dealing with infected patients left health workers at greater risk – even with protective equipment.
To cope with staff shortages, Freeman said the NHS may need to draft in thousands of trainee doctors and nurses to help and said they were now looking at how retired staff can return to work.
She said there are “3000 available nursing students” as well as year-five medical students. But she added they would only be asked to do what they were trained to do and no more.
But they could play an “important role” in caring for those who become sick.
She said the Scottish Government is looking to double the number of intensive care units available because of the spread of the virus. That will be achieved by making “difficult decisions” to scale down elective work in the NHS such as hip and knee replacement surgeries.
Freeman insisted the authorities are “doing everything we possibly can to prepare for this”.
But with 80 per cent of people becoming infected in the worst-case scenario, Freeman said people must realise “that we will not be able to make this go away”.
She added: “There will be difficulties and the way we live our lives is going to change for a period of time.
“We are looking at how we can increase the number of beds available in our hospital settings, doubling the number of intensive care units that we have and equipping them and staffing them.
“You start to make difficult decisions about NHS care that is critical to life – cancer treatment, transplants, maternity care – from NHS care that is not critical to life – the replacements of knees, hips and so on.”
Meanwhile, Merkland School, a primary and secondary for kids with additional support needs in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, had to be closed for a deep clean amid fears Covid-19 could be present in the building.
East Dunbartonshire Council said the school would reopen today.