Five people tested for coronavirus in Scotland

The Scottish Government has confirmed five people are being tested for coronavirus.

It also says there are no confirmed cases and the risk to the public remains low.

A spokesperson said: "There are currently no confirmed cases of Coronavirus (WN Co-V) in Scotland and the risk to the Scottish public remains low.

"Following travel to Wuhan, China, two people confirmed as diagnosed with influenza are now being tested for Wuhan Novel Coronavirus as a precautionary measure only.

"Three further people are also undergoing testing on a similar precautionary basis.

"As the situation develops we will update should there be any confirmed cases of Coronavirus, rather than provide a running update on cases being considered on a precautionary basis.

"We are co-orientating with Health Protection Scotland a daily Incident Management Team to continue to monitor the situation as it develops, including on the number of any potential cases going forward."

Earlier Nicola Sturgeon spoke about the government response to the outbreak in China during First Minister's Questions.

She said: "The risk to the public here in Scotland, and indeed the UK is currently classified as low, but obviously that is kept under review.

"Health Protection Scotland are liaising with NHS boards and are currently in daily contact with Public Health England.

"We're also liaising daily with colleagues in the UK Department of Health.

"Enhanced monitoring measures have been implented for flights from Wuhan city to Heathrow.

"That will involve each flight being met by a port health team who will check for symptoms of coronavirus, and provide information to all passengers - and we're currently considering whether there's any further information that could helpfully be provided at Scottish airports."

Eighteen people have died from the illness in China.

Aberdeen-based infectious disease expert Professor Hugh Pennington has praised their response so far: "The Chinese have really jumped on it very hard. They've sequenced this genome which means that we have lab tests available, so if somebody has been to Wuhan and they've got these respiratory symptoms, you can do a test and find out whether they have the infection or not.

"What we don't know about this virus is how effective it is at moving from person to person, and that's a crucial question that everbody's waiting for a clear answer to, because that will to some degree determine how we will control it."

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