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Coronavirus: Sturgeon to pledge 'ramping up' of testing Coronavirus testing to be expanded in Scotland
(about 7 hours later)
Nicola Sturgeon is set to outline plans to ramp up testing for coronavirus. Coronavirus testing is to be extended in Scotland, with more tests in care homes and a widening of eligibility, the first minister has announced.
The first minister will insist that Scotland has already successfully increased testing capacity. In future all residents and staff will be tested in any care home where there has been an outbreak.
But she will say a new effort is required to get ready for the next phase in tackling the virus. Over 65-year-olds with symptoms and their households will now be eligible for the UK-wide test scheme.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is also due to announce whether his pledge of 100,000 tests a day has been met - with a government source telling the BBC it was "fairly confident". Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland now has capacity to carry out 4,350 coronavirus tests a day in NHS laboratories.
Ms Sturgeon previously pledged to match England on NHS testing capacity. The Scottish government had previously set a target of 3,500 NHS tests a day by the end of April.
That target of having the capacity for 3,500 tests per day in Scotland has been met - although there have been reports that far fewer than that are actually being carried out. Ms Sturgeon said there would be a gap between capacity and the number actual tested. On Thursday, a total of 2,537 tests were carried out at NHS labs.
While all frontline NHS workers, social care staff and care home residents are eligible to be tested in England, regardless of whether they have symptoms, it is only those who are suspected of having the virus in Scotland who are being tested. The first minister said 40 people who had tested postive for Covid-19 had died in the past 24 hours, taking total deaths under that measure to 1,515.
And in England, anyone over the age of 65 who is displaying symptoms of the virus is eligible to be tested, regardless of their circumstances. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 11,654, up 301 from Thursday. A total of 1,809 patients are in hospital, up 61, with 110 treated in intensive care, up one.
This is not yet the case in Scotland, where over-65s with symptoms are only tested if they fall under one of the other categories - for example if they are a hospital patient or care home resident. Two testing schemes are operating in parallel in Scotland - NHS testing and a UK government drive-through scheme that is operating at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports as well as sites in Inverness and Perth.
Scottish Care has called for a "significant" increase in the number of tests being carried out in care homes. Applications for the UK government scheme are made through an online portal, but as the health service is devolved it is up to the Scottish government to lay down the eligibility criteria.
The industry body wants all residents and staff to be tested as soon as any coronavirus case is found in a home. Ms Sturgeon said this would be expanded to over-65s and to people who are not key workers, but who are required to leave home to go to work.
The first minister is also expected to be be challenged over whether private tests in Scotland take the overall total to the near 10,000, which could be seen as a proportionate share of the UK total. The first minister said the NHS laboratory testing capacity had risen from 350 a day before the outbreak to the current level of 4,350. She hoped it would rise to 8,000 by mid May.
Ms Sturgeon will focus on two aims: On Thursday, the combined total of NHS and UK government scheme tests carried out stood at 4,661, while the combined testing capacity was 8,350.
On Tuesday, the first minister announced that all patients over 70 who are admitted to hospital for any reason will now be tested for Covid-19.
She also said there had been "steady progress on increasing testing capacity" over the past month.