CORONAVIRUS LATEST

• Scottish death toll jumps to 47, and 1,408 in UK. • Plans to fly back Britons stranded abroad. • Fife scientist driven by fears for her family. • Council staff redeployed to essential services.

One of Scotland’s most popular venues is being transformed into a temporary NHS hospital with room for up to 1,000 patients in order to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The SEC in Glasgow will house 300 additional beds but have room for as many as 1,000 patients if needs be, and could also be equipped with a mortuary.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it will be a “contingency” measure should the NHS Scotland estate run out of space to house people suffering from coronavirus.

The Scottish Government has been in discussion with the British Army as it looks to establish the new hospital at the SEC. Ms Sturgeon said: “It is entirely possible we will not have to use the extra capacity we are creating at the SECC.”

“It is entirely possible we will not have to use the extra capacity. NICOLA STURGEON

The Scottish Government is focused on increasing “both general hospital capacity and intensive care capacity withing our hospital network”.

She added: “If needed we expect the hospital could become operational within a fortnight from now... It is important to be clear that we might not need to use the exhibition centre.”

Scotland has 3,000 hospital beds set aside for Covid-19 patients and work is under way to quadruple the health service’s ICU capacity.

Ms Sturgeon also said 10,000 people responded to a call for volunteers through Scotland Cares, a new scheme set up to tackle the covid-19 outbreak, within just four hours of its launch yesterday morning.

The project has also led to 5,000 people – medical students and retired healthcare workers – expressing interest in jobs in the NHS and social care sector.

Picture: PA. Military personnel head into the SEC in Glasgow yesterday as work continues to prepare the popular music venue as a temporary hospital for coronavirus patients, with beds for as many as 1,000.

Pictures: SNS/PA. The armed forces have been assessing Glasgow’s SEC Centre as a site for a temporary hospital to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak. Nicola Sturgeon expects the hospital could become operational within a fortnight, but stressed that it might not be needed.