TEST AND TRACE SET FOR LAUNCH
Ambitious scheme to begin tomorrow – amid fears over fake calls
SCOTS will be called out of the blue from tomorrow and told to quarantine if they have been in contact with someone who has coronavirus.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she will roll out her new ‘Test and Protect’ strategy as she prepares to ease some of Scotland’s lockdown restrictions.
Under the plan, there will be the capacity to test up to 15,500 people a day. Anyone who tests positive will then be asked to give a specialist team of ‘contact tracers’ a detailed list of people they have had contact with.
The contact tracers will then call everyone on the list and tell them they have been in contact with someone who has the virus and must go into self-isolation for 14 days.
Even if they subsequently test negative themselves, they will still be advised to remain in isolation for the full two-week period.
But concerns were raised yesterday over the threat of scammers gaining an individual’s personal details – and the Scottish Government was urged to put safeguards in place.
Unveiling details of the plan yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said the entire strategy depended on the co-operation of members of the public who are contacted by tracing staff.
She said: ‘It is no exaggeration to say that how you – how any of us – respond will be vital in stopping the spread of the virus.
‘We will ask you to self-isolate immediately. The success of Test and Protect will really depend on all of us trusting this advice and, for the sake of ourselves and each other, agreeing to abide by it.
‘If you are at work, the advice will be to immediately head home, taking care to come into contact with as few people as possible.’
The new scheme is being launched to coincide with the first lockdown measures being relaxed, details of which Miss Sturgeon is due to unveil tomorrow.
As people begin to leave the house more regularly than in the past two months of lockdown, the scheme focuses on enhanced testing, then contacting everyone who has been in contact with someone who tests positive.
Capacity now allows for more than 15,000 tests a day. By the end of the month, a pool of 2,000 contact tracers will be in place to track down those who have been in touch with anyone who has the virus – although Miss Sturgeon said she expects only about 700 of them to be needed.
She said: ‘This is a system that will operate at a scale not seen before in Scotland.
‘We have, of course, had testing and contact tracing before, but we are substantially increasing the scale.
‘Over the first couple of weeks it will need to bed down but introducing it at the same time as we take the first very cautious steps out of lockdown gives us the opportunity to address any operational issues ahead of a potentially more substantial easing of restrictions at the next review date in three weeks.’
If a person tests positive, they will be asked to provide names of people from their household and those they have been in contact with face-to-face, or those who have been less than two metres away for 15 minutes or more.
Those contacted will not be told the name of the person who tested positive in order to protect that individual’s privacy.
They will be asked to self-isolate and to
‘Proof service against the potential for scams’
immediately head home if they are at work. Employers should not ask them to go into work but may ask them to work from home.
Adam Stachura, head of policy at Age Scotland, said: ‘It will be important to proof this service against the potential for scams.
‘There has been a dramatic increase in Covid-related scams since March and it will be vital for the Government to do everything they can to ensure that this service is not hijacked by fraudsters. Significant numbers of older people are targeted and become victims of scams as a result of their perceived vulnerability.’
Marjorie Gibson, head of operations at consumer advice. scot, said: ‘Fraud is on the increase during the coronavirus pandemic, so everyone should be vigilant.’
Asked yesterday about the risk of unsolicited phone calls from fraudsters posing as contact tracers, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We are taking steps at every stage here to protect people’s privacy and to make sure there is security.’
She said more details would follow about steps being taken to ‘ensure verification of identity’.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said yesterday: ‘Nicola Sturgeon could have as large a testing capacity as she likes – but it won’t matter a bit if people aren’t actually being tested.’