New walk-in test centres to tackle the winter surge
‘Major spike in demand’
A SERIES of ‘walk-in’ coronavirus testing centres will be set up in Scotland to deal with a spike in demand.
Nicola Sturgeon yesterday announced the first facility will be operating within days in St Andrews, Fife, while ten more will be rolled out across the country in coming weeks.
The centres will allow an extra 3,000 tests to be carried out each day.
It is hoped that they will all be open in time for winter, when there is expected to be a surge in demand as a result of seasonal colds and flu, which can have similar symptoms to coronavirus.
Miss Sturgeon said a ‘major spike in demand’ over the weekend had caused problems for a number of people trying to book tests.
Some Scots were directed to centres in England and Northern Ireland as the system struggled to cope.
Speaking at her coronavirus briefing, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Over the weekend, there was a major spike in demand for testing – not just in Scotland but, we think, across the UK.
‘That led to some constraints on the booking portal throughout the day yesterday and that, in turn, resulted in a surge of calls to our Covid-19 helpline.’
She said that ‘contingency plans are already being activated’ to boost capacity, including three mobile testing units which are being deployed to Glasgow and the Central Belt.
It is expected that all three will be available by the end of the week, increasing capacity by between 1,200 and 1,500 tests.
Miss Sturgeon said 11 ‘walk-in’ test centres will be set up, the first at Victory Memorial Hall, St Andrews.
Until now, Scotland’s testing capacity has been within drive-through or mobile centres.
The latest data published yesterday showed a further 44 people tested positive for coronavirus, taking the Scottish total to 19,921 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Of the new cases in the past 24 hours, provisional figures indicate seven are in Tayside, where there is an outbreak linked to the 2 Sisters food processing factory in Coupar Angus, Perthshire.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I want to stress, in relation to all of these outbreaks that we’re dealing with just now, and indeed the situation with schools, we are not unduly concerned by any of these situations right at this moment.
‘That said, we’re not complacent either. As you’ll appreciate, we continue to monitor all cases, clusters and outbreaks very, very closely.’
NHS Lanarkshire confirmed one new case of a pupil testing positive, involving Ace Place Nursery in Rutherglen.
Dr Josephine Pravinkumar, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health medicine, said: ‘We would like to reassure the local community there is currently no evidence of transmission in schools or nurseries and that appropriate measures are being implemented.’
The First Minister told the briefing there was no increase in the number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive test and this remains at 2,492.
Of those who tested positive, 243 were in hospital, down five in 24 hours, while there is one person in intensive care.
Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality firms will be able to reopen in Aberdeen from today as the final local lockdown restrictions are lifted.