First Minister defends response to care home crisis during pandemic
Nicola Sturgeon has defended her Government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in care homes.
Speaking during the Scottish Government's daily Covid-19 briefing on Monday, she said while "property scrutiny'' of the response to the pandemic is "really essential'', care was taken to put guidance in place.
The Sunday Post reported at least 37 people were moved from hospital to a care home after a positive test for the virus.
The First Minister announced during the briefing that there has been no deaths related to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, while the number of positive cases has risen by 26.
A total of 2,491 patients have died in Scotland with the virus, and 19,358 have tested positive.
The last confirmed death of an infected person in the country was recorded on July 15.
Addressing the care home reports, Ms Sturgeon said: "I want to be clear that while there will undoubtedly be lessons to learn when a new virus is encountered - and we take that very seriously - care was taken to put guidance in place that was considered to be appropriate at every stage.''
She said this included from mid-March guidance requiring clinical screening of patients being transferred from hospitals to care homes "to guard against inappropriate transfer''.
The guidance also advised social isolation within care homes, she said.
The First Minister reiterated her commitment to a public inquiry, which she said will be held "in due course''.
She said scrutiny of the Scottish Government's approach "will, and must, include consideration of whether, based on what we knew at each stage, the guidance in place at each stage was both appropriate and properly implemented''.
The First Minister also addressed a number of clusters across Scotland.
She said since the beginning of the outbreak in Aberdeen, 207 cases have been confirmed in that cluster, with 1,050 contacts identified.
A further cluster has been discovered at a food processing facility in Coupar Angus, Ms Sturgeon said.
The Two Sisters plant has been closed after four cases were confirmed and investigations are currently under way.
The First Minister also said clusters in Coatbridge and the north-east of Glasgow are still under investigation and information will be released as it is gathered.
She said: "These clusters obviously show that this virus is still out there and it continues to pose a very real and serious risk.''
Ms Sturgeon told the coronavirus briefing that an updated testing strategy will be published, setting out the Scottish Government's priorities for this phase of handling coronavirus.
While the top priority is still the testing of those with symptoms of Covid-19, the First Minister said the secondary priority will be to test those who have been in contact with people who have been found to be carrying the virus.
People working in high-risk environments such as care homes are the third priority, the First Minister said.
The strategy sets out an objective to increase the capacity for testing in Scotland from 40,000 a day to 65,000, as well as improving accessibility to tests.
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