COVID-19 testing brought forward for home carers in Scotland
85,000 home carers will have access to testing before the end of the month.
Home carers in Scotland will be offered coronavirus testing from Monday, even if they don’t have any symptoms.
It has been brought forward from March as the Scottish Health Secretary grows more concerned about “the seriousness of the situation we now face.”
A total of 2,160 new cases of COVID-19 have been record in the past 24 hours in Scotland and a further 61 coronavirus related deaths registered.
Ms Freeman said 85,000 workers providing care to people in their own homes would have access to testing before the end of this month.
She described testing of such staff, including those who work in day care settings and sheltered housing, as “complex.”
Ms Freeman also announced the fleet of mobile testing units operated by the Scottish Ambulance Service will be “significantly expanded'' from 18 to 42 by March.
Additional staff and equipment are being funded, with the Health Secretary saying this will allow each site to be split into two smaller units - meaning 84 communities could potentially be covered at any time.
She said: “These mobile testing units play an important part in making testing more accessible.
“They are, of course, especially useful in rural and remote areas, particularly in the winter months.''
She also said 1,860 people are in hospital confirmed to have Covid-19, up by 31 in 24 hours, with 141 of these in intensive care - down one in the same period.
Ms Freeman said that as of Thursday, 224,840 people had received their first dose of a vaccine - 16,663 more than the previous day.
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