Plans to increase testing capacity in Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon said she wants Scotland to be able to carry out 65,000 coronavirus tests a day as the Scottish Government revealed an updated testing strategy.
Currently about 40,000 tests for the virus can be carried out each weekday, with work now being done to increase this, in part to cope with greater demand in autumn and winter.
Appearing alongside the First Minister at the Scottish Government's coronavirus briefing on Monday, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said testing is being used to "actively hunt down the virus''.
Close contacts of those confirmed as having Covid-19 have now been identified as a priority group for testing.
Ms Sturgeon said the revised strategy "seeks to give a concise and clear explanation of who we are seeking to test, why we are doing so and what our plans in the near future are''.
She said this "sets our intention to further increase testing capacity in Scotland'', which she said "will be increasingly important as we move into the autumn and winter''.
Ms Sturgeon explained: "In those months more people will have symptoms such as a new cold, which might be similar to Covid symptoms.
"Current weekday capacity in Scotland is for just over 40,000 tests every day but we want to and are working to increase that to 65,000 tests a day.''
Ms Sturgeon said the "top priority continues to be to test anyone who has symptoms of Covid'', such as a high temperature, new cough or change in sense of taste and smell.
"Anyone who develops these symptoms should book a test immediately,'' the First Minister said.
She added: "Our second priority now is testing contacts of people with Covid and using testing in that way to prevent or minimise new outbreaks of the virus.
"And the third priority is routine testing of people who work in higher risk environments, such as care homes.
"We're also using testing to ensure the safe resumption or continuation of NHS services and to assess prevalence of the virus in Scotland.''
All contacts of people classed as "Covid-19 index cases'' will now be offered testing, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Such contacts are currently advised to isolate at home for 14 days.
They will still be asked to do this but it is hoped testing will enable further contacts to be identified, helping to contain future outbreaks of the disease.
In addition, from September, Scotland will participate in the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey, which is already undertaken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This will result in the biggest expansion to date of testing among asymptomatic people for surveillance purposes, with approximately 15,000 people in Scotland tested during every two-week rolling period.
Ms Freeman said coronvirus testing is a "key tool which gives us vital information about the what, the who and the where of disease transmission''.
She added: "Testing is also an important part of surveillance to understand the disease, track its prevalence, understand its transmission and monitor key sectors.
"Given where we are now in the pandemic in Scotland, our clear priority is to use testing to actively hunt down the virus and to protect those most vulnerable to the greatest harm.
"Hunting down the virus means using testing to identify those most likely to be infected.
"At this stage in the pandemic that includes contacts of confirmed positive cases.
"Protecting those most vulnerable means routine testing in high risk settings, including our weekly testing of care home workers, to prevent outbreaks before they occur by detecting positive cases including from those who may not be displaying symptoms.''
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