Vital testing strategy in terminal collapse

THERE is no certain exit route from the attritional paralysis of lockdown.

But there is a consensus that testing on a significant scale is a necessity.

In that context, the utter disarray of the SNP’s Covid-19 strategy is depressing, and indeed chilling, to witness. It appeared to be in a state of terminal collapse even before it was properly under way.

Yesterday we learned more than 30,000 coronavirus test results are unaccounted for. Remarkably, swabs taken as far back as mid-April are still being processed.

That means the official tally of coronavirus infection might be seriously inaccurate – and assessments of the future development of the pandemic based on skewed data.

Testing is already running far below capacity, despite grand pledges of rapid escalation which have failed to materialise.

It is a demonstration of incompetence at a time of acute national crisis.

The revelation this week that the public were not told about a coronavirus outbreak at a Nike conference in Edinburgh in February understandably provoked fears of a ‘cover-up’.

Care homes remain at the centre of the pandemic, accounting for a shockingly high proportion of overall fatalities.

Yesterday it emerged that the Care Inspectorate has taken legal action that could remove the operators of a care home on Skye, where seven residents have died.

So far, 30 of the private home’s 34 residents have tested positive for Covid-19, as well as 29 staff. Its management has accepted ‘shortcomings’ and apologised to families and the local community.

It is one horrifying example of the way this devastating illness has swept through care homes, claiming hundreds of victims.

Inadequate testing has fuelled this catastrophe, in one of the greatest public health scandals that this country will ever experience.

Staff have been on the front line of fighting the virus outbreak – but were woefully unprepared for the nightmarish conditions they would face.

Meanwhile, our best hope of restoring some approximation of normality in our lives is to make a success of testing, tracing and isolating.

In the absence of a vaccine, this is the only feasible weapon at our disposal.

But yesterday the Scottish Government was unable to confirm how many people have been recruited for this initiative.

Some 2,000 are needed, but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon now appears to be rowing back on a commitment to have them in place by the end of this month.

Complete transparency is required to allay suspicion that the target is nowhere near being met.

It is telling that government scientists now suggest that ‘herd immunity’ may provide the key to reducing Covid-19 transmission rates.

So far, the public health messaging has been underpinned by the bid to save the NHS from meltdown – an ambition achieved by the collective efforts of millions of Scots, and at a desperately high economic price.

Without a vaccine, this would entail a percentage of the population contracting the virus and, therefore, potentially gaining immunity.

Can we get our economy functioning again within the narrow parameters of social distancing – and under the debilitating threat of multiple lockdowns?

There are many variables here, and science cannot yet offer all of the answers.

But, in the meantime, testing must be at the heart of the campaign against Covid-19. The promises made by Government ministers need to be swiftly matched by concrete action – before public faith in their ability to manage the pandemic is irrevocably damaged.