First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and CMO Catherine Calderwood.
By Bill Heaney
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it is not yet known when the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in Scotland could come.
And she dismissed speculation that special measures could begin to be phased out soon, telling a media conference that summer holidays, as we knew them, would not be happening.
She was speaking as new figures confirmed a further 46 people with coronavirus have died in Scotland, taking the total number to 172.
One Dumbarton man has died after contracting coronavirus but his family have asked The Democrat to respect their privacy at this traumatic time for them.
Ms Sturgeon said 3,001 people had now tested positive for the virus, an increase of 399 from Thursday.
There are 1,321 patients in hospital who have been diagnosed with the virus, including 176 who are being treated in intensive care.
The first minister told the Scottish government’s daily coronavirus briefing that she hoped to give “more certainty” over when the virus could peak in “the next couple of weeks”.
But she added: “I want to be clear, and I can only speak for Scotland, that nothing I have seen – absolutely nothing – would give me any basis whatsoever that this virus will peak in a week’s time.
“I know there will be media messages across the whole of the UK today that people will be hearing, and if I have to continue to ask people to do the right thing it’s important I’m doing that on the basis off frankness.
“I don’t want people to hear something that, in my view, for Scotland is not the case.”
She said: “Each day we are announcing more people infected with the virus than the day before, more people being admitted to hospital and intensive care and more deaths day-on-day as we go through this epidemic.
“So at the moment we will not be able to give a clear date of when the peak would be.”
The first minister also said NHS Scotland’s testing capacity would increase from 1,900 a day to at least 3,500 “by the end of this month at the latest”.
The Scottish government had been urged to follow UK government plans to boost the number of tests it is doing, with UK health secretary Matt Hancock setting a target of 100,000 tests a day in England.
The move followed widespread criticism for not increasing the number of tests more quickly A number of hospitals have set up drive-through testing areas
Current testing is only reliable in confirming someone has coronavirus, but both the Scottish and UK governments hope a reliable antibody test that tells whether you have previously had the disease will soon become available.
Ms Sturgeon denied that the Scottish government’s testing plan was “less ambitious” than the rest of the UK and said it was “not right to compare” the new 3,500 Scottish target with the UK’s 100,000 figure that was announced on Thursday.
She said: “The 3,5000 target that we have set for the end of this month at the latest was equivalent to the first pillar of the five pillars that Matt Hancock outlined yesterday.
“The UK’s target is 25,000 by the end of April so, proportionately, our target is a bit more ambitious than the UK’s.”
The first minister added: “It is over and above that where the UK gets to 100,000, and what I’m saying is that, through those same measures, Scotland will get to a position that is proportionately the same.”
The Scottish government is also considering plans around antibody testing, but the first minister cautioned against expectations that such a scheme could start any time soon.
“That kind of test doesn’t currently exist,” she said. “We hope it will do soon, but the fact is that might still be some time away.”
- A SIMPLE GUIDE: How do I protect myself?
- AVOIDING CONTACT: The rules on self-isolation and exercise
- LOOK-UP TOOL: Check cases in your area
- MAPS AND CHARTS: Visual guide to the outbreak
- VIDEO: The 20-second hand wash