Covid testing changes

People in Renfrewshire who are identified as a close contact of somebody who has tested positive for coronavirus will be asked to get tested as part of new government measures.

The new measure was implemented this week and is designed to find asymptomatic cases.

Public Health Minister Ma i ri Gougeon said: “Testing close contacts is a significant step in enhancing our public health response, as it will enable us to find asymptomat i c cases that would otherwise go undetected, helping us to stop the spread of this virus through our communities.

“This is especially important given new covid strains are more infectious, and not everyone who has coronavirus will have symptoms, so people could be spreading the disease to those around them without knowing it.

“This expansion is possible because of increases in our testing capacity.

“However, it’s important to remember the incubation period of covid means that a person could still test positive at a later stage in their isolation period – so a negative test does not mean you should stop self-isolating.”