Chaos as FM claims new testers might not be needed at all

NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ‘rowing back’ from a promise to appoint 2,000 people to oversee Scotland’s route out of lockdown.

The test, trace and isolate programme is due to be launched later this week as restrictions are eased.

Earlier this month, a Scottish Government report set out how 2,000 staff would be recruited to ask everyone who catches the virus for details of who they have been in contact with.

So far, only 660 staff are in post for the scheme, despite the First Minister previously saying far more would be recruited. A further 750 are ‘at various stages of the appointment and training process’.

Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said the 2,000 staff do not need to be in post for the initiative to get under way, and claimed that there may never be any need for that many workers.

Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Everyone desperately wants Scotland’s plan to exit lockdown to work quickly and safely. But it won’t happen unless the testing system is up to scratch.

‘There’s no getting away from the fact Nicola Sturgeon said there would be 2,000 contact tracers recruited by the end of this month.

‘Now she’s rowing back on that pledge significantly, and it sounds like she’s getting her excuses in early for having significantly fewer.

‘The SNP’s approach to testing has been botched from the outset, and continued failure on this front will put lives at risk and lead to lockdown lasting longer than is necessary.’

The contact tracing system – now branded ‘test and support’ by the Scottish Government – is essential for Scotland to move to the next phases of lifting lockdown.

Up to 15,500 Scots a day will be screened for the infection – and people who test positive for Covid-19 will be asked to disclose details of people they have come into contact with.

These people will then be tracked down and told to selfisolate for a fortnight.

Miss Sturgeon said there had been 20,000 applications to be contact tracers, with 660 currently in post.

She added: ‘I don’t think we will need all 2,000, incidentally, in the first stages of this.’

She said the number of staff needed ‘will depend on the prevalence of the virus’ and the number of new cases.

She added: ‘It is really important that we don’t get overly fixed on these numbers because we will have to be able to adapt and flex as we go.

‘The 2,000 is an initial target that we said. We may not need them all. I don’t think we will require them all to start with.

‘But in future, I don’t know because I cannot see and predict exactly what will happen with this virus but it is possible we will need more than that.’

Miss Sturgeon also confirmed a key part of the scheme – a website that allows people who catch the virus to insert the details of people they have had contact with – ‘will not necessarily be ready for next week’.

At her daily media briefing yesterday, she said she was still ‘on track’ to recruit 2,000 staff.

She added: ‘Yes, these figures we’ve said we were aiming for, it is important to be held to account on breaching those.

‘But don’t get too fixed on a particular number because we may need more than that in future and there will be times we don’t need all of the resources we have at our disposal.’

A system is already being trialled in three health boards. NHS Fife, Lanarkshire and Highland have been testing the software contact tracers will use to collect information.