The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Coronavirus cases jump as panic increases
Empty shelves at Tesco’s Kingsway store in Dundee as panic buying showed no letup at the weekend. Picture: Kenny Smith.
NHS Tayside staff are prepared to be “challenged like never before” by an outbreak which could strike 7,000 people across the region.
The health board’s medicine for the elderly consultant Dr Douglas Lowdon, a member of the health body’s Covid-19 contingency planning group, said an upper limit of 20% to 40% of the region’s 420,000 population being infected by the virus was a fair estimation of its potential impact.
That would equate to perhaps 7,000 people across the course of the outbreak, the majority of whom would not likely have to be admitted to hospital.
The plan has been designed to cope with some 60 daily Covid-19 admissions to Tayside hospitals over the next five months.
Latest figures released yesterday afternoon show Scotland has 153 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The figure increased from 121 on Saturday, although the daily rise was slightly less sharp than an increase of 36 cases between Friday and Saturday.
Tayside has 15 confirmed cases, and Fife seven.
The Scottish Government said 4,240 tests have been carried out, with one death related to the virus.
In a widely-shared social media post, Dr Lowdon said NHS Tayside had “worked tirelessly” to put in place a Covid-19 plan the public can trust.
“We currently have 100 Covidpositive beds at this stage,” he said.
“There are currently one or two patients with Covid-19 in Ninewells.
“We have plans in place to put in nearly 400 beds for Covid-positive people over an escalation of our stages over the next week or so.
“We will have this in place and staffed for the Tayside population if needed.
“That modelling will cope with up to 60 admissions with Covid per day over the next 20 weeks. That would look after up to 8,500 Tayside people if they needed admission to hospital with Covid-19.
“It feels like that is a reasonable contingency plan we have put into place.”
“Yes, this will be very hard work and staff are going to be challenged like never before.
“The majority of patients will be well and manage at home, so we won’t need to see them and fortunately will not need admission.
“Rest assured we are as prepared for the unknown as you can be, and we are ready.”
It comes as NHS Tayside restricted visiting times at all of the area’s hospitals.
In a move announced at the weekend, visits will be restricted to between 3-4pm and 7-8pm at all NHS Tayside hospitals.
There will be a maximum of two visitors per patient and families are being discouraged from taking young children to visit patients.
NHS Tayside medical director, Professor Peter Stonebridge said: “We are working to ensure we have the right resources, equipment and staffing in place. Our planning will always use the scientific and clinical evidence and we will keep the level of resourcing under constant review.
“This includes provision of all appropriate medical equipment, including ventilators, and further work is under way to map this against scientific and clinical evidence of potential increased demand.”
NHS Fife did not respond when asked if visiting is restricted at its hospitals and had not updated its social media pages.
An Angus primary school will be closed today over a suspected coronavirus link. Council chiefs have confirmed Murroes Primary School will not open today or tomorrow.
It is to allow a deep clean after a suspected positive case of Covid-19 related to the 97-pupil primary.
Care homes run by Fife Health and Social Care Partnership have stopped non-essential visits to limit the risks to residents. Those affected are Ostlers House, Kirkcaldy, Napier House, Glenrothes, Lindsay House, Lumphinnans, Ladywalk, Anstruther, Northeden, Cupar, Methilhaven, Leven, and Matthew Fyfe and Jean Mackie, both Dunfermline.
As more people retreat into isolation, supermarket shelves across Tayside and Fife were emptied with shops running low on toilet roll, pasta and other nonperishables.
UK retailers urged shoppers not to buy more than they need, while some shops are rationing products.