Distancing, not tests, will help beat virus

Scots have been told social distancing could be more important than testing in the battle against coronavirus – as it was revealed contact tracing is no longer taking place in the country.

Speaking at a press conference at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh, Dr Catherine Calderwood said the notion testing for Covid-19 would slow down the spread of the virus was a “fallacy”.

The chief medical officer insisted it was social distancing and self-isolation that would help win the fight against the disease – and potentially lead to an early lifting of lockdown measures.

At the press conference, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed Scottish health experts are looking at “different types of tests” – including on antibodies – as part of the fight to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Ms Sturgeon added that “rapid increases in testing capacity” were taking place in Scotland – with around 1,900 a day now possible. She expects the country to be able to carry out 3,500 on a daily basis by the end of April.

However, Ms Sturgeon and

Dr Calderwood also agreed with comments made by England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam that social distancing was key to winning the battle against Covid-19.

Dr Calderwood added: “I have been saying and advising the first minister and cabinet secretary for several weeks now about the distraction the focus on testing may become.

“The testing is extremely useful but it is only going to be positive within a short window of perhaps 48 to 72 hours while somebody has symptoms, because there needs to be an amount of virus in that person to be able for that to be detected.

“As in fact the deputy CMO in England said, it is the social distancing that is important, that people with symptoms are not mixing with others and therefore transmitting the virus to other people who transmit it to their friends and family.

“There will come a time when the utility of the testing is in fact so that people can know that they have had it because they have been tested and they then will be able to know – as far as we know at the moment – they are immune to catching it again.”