The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
‘Tracers are doing a very effective job’
● FM insists operation to find contacts works well after claim of understaffing
The first minister has defended the contact tracing operation amid criticism about a lack of staff. Nicola Sturgeon said the team was “firefighting” against a rise in cases as she confirmed the number of people associated with Aberdeen’s cluster had risen to 79, while a further 30 cases are under investigation.
The Granite City’s hospitality industry was shut down on Wednesday and a five-mile travel ban reintroduced following the spike in cases connected to the Hawthorn Bar in Holburn Street.
And yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said that the government was “looking closely” at whether there is a case to be made for extending the restrictions to areas of Aberdeenshire given the “very close integral links” with the city.
Ms Sturgeon urged Aberdonians to stay at home and reminded them they should not be going on holiday.
A total of 233 close contacts have been identified so far as a result of the outbreak.
The Scottish Conservatives called on the first minister to give NHS Grampian “everything it takes” to suppress community infection in the north-east, after claims only eight staff of Scotland’s 575 call handlers were seconded to chase infection reports in the wake of the incident.
Aberdeenshire West MSP Alexander Burnett said he was told by health chiefs they were only given eight extra staff to help trace contacts.
Responding to a question at the briefing, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is in “close dialogue” with NHS Grampian and will “continue to support them through advice and additional resource that they need”.
She added: “This work is of absolute paramount importance therefore they will have the support they need.
“What I do know from the information I have is that they are doing a very good and very effective job in terms of the contacts being traced.”
However, she admitted, it was “not clear” how many were connected to the ongoing outbreak.
Mr Burnett said: “I was shocked to be told only a tiny portion of Scotland’s contact tracers were sent to help firefight an emergency.
“This is a case of massive underresourcing for a major incident by Nicola Sturgeon and she must follow through on promises to give NHS Grampian everything it takes to stop infection. This is a critical moment in stopping the virus from spreading.”
Ms Sturgeon pleaded for patience, adding: “I would ask people to be understanding of the complex and fast-moving nature of the situations the local public health teams are dealing with when they face an outbreak.”
Ms Sturgeon added that matters were “complicated” by social media which means that while a local outbreak team may find there is no need to name a premises from a public health perspective, that does not mean the venue has not been named elsewhere.
It comes as NHS Grampian apologised to those businesses it had not managed to reach ahead of publishing the list of affected premises.
Ms Sturgeon reminded anyone who visited the venues already named that they would only be contacted if they had been classified as a “close contact” to confirmed cases based on factors such as distance and the time of their visit.
She added: “It’s a very complex process but it is led by people who do know what they’re doing. We will, of course, learn from every outbreak we face.”
The Scottish Government last night said two Mobile Testing Units had been deployed to Aberdeen at the P&J Live venue. A further four Mobile Testing Units are available to be deployed. A spokesman said that would giving “a total potential testing capacity of 2,000 tests per day”.
“We will, of course, learn from every outbreak we face”