Bad weather blamed for test setbacks
Bad weather has been among three challenges for the coronavirus testing system in the past few days, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Some Scots who have tried to arrange a Covid-19 test using the online p or tal have b een sent to centres in England and Northern Ireland.
The First Minister had said t h e p r o b l e ms c a me d u r i n g a weekend of high demand, with many children showing coronavirus-like symptoms as schools reopened.
S h e g ave a n o t h e r u p d a t e at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, saying high winds had forced one testing centre to close. Responding to a
question from MSP Stuart Mcmillan, she said there had been “three challenges with testing which will interrelate”.
She said: “We have had some technical problems with the UK Government b o o k i n g s y s t e m , wh i c h we are working with the
D e p a r t me n t o f He a l t h a n d S o c i a l C a r e i n E n g l a n d t o resolve. That includes situations where people in Scotland are being referred to testing centres that are a long way away from them and some - t i m e s o u t s i d e o f S c o t l a n d and we hope that issue will be resolved.
“We a l s o h a d ye s t e r d ay a we a t h e r - r e l a t e d p r o b l e m . The regional testing centre in Edinburgh, for example, had to close because of high winds, which hopefully will be resolved quickly.”
She added: “The more fundamental issue, which is one we’ve a l ways k n ow n a b o u t a n d b e e n p l a n n i ng f o r a n d these plans have been activated this week, is the peaks in demand.”