Thank you for the opportunity to make a further statement about Scotland’s response to the Covid-19 epidemic.
We have now had the first full week of what I will refer to as lockdown measures, so I want to begin by thanking people across Scotland for complying with the rules. I know that the past 10 days have not been easy for anyone—that is a massive understatement. However, overwhelmingly, people across the country have been doing the right thing. That is not unexpected, but it is heartening, and it will continue to be crucial in the weeks to come. By staying at home except for essential purposes, all of us can play a part in stopping the spread of the virus, protecting the ability of the national health service to protect those who need it and, ultimately, saving lives.
In a few moments, I will talk about volunteering and support for businesses, but I want to start with an update on the spread of the virus, on what we might expect to see in the weeks ahead and on the steps that we are taking to increase capacity in the NHS and equip it to cope with the impact of this epidemic.
I confirm that, as of 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 2,310 positive cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Scotland. That is an increase of 317 on yesterday’s figures. As I have stressed every day, those numbers will be a significant underestimate of the true spread of the virus across the country. It is with sadness that I must also report that there have been 16 further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland to 76. I am sure that everyone in the chamber will join me in extending condolences to all those who have lost loved ones.
I know that everyone will also join me in thanking everyone working in our health and care sector. They are doing an extraordinary job, and everyone in Scotland is deeply grateful for their dedication and expertise.
The numbers that I have given demonstrate that, as expected, we are now at the stage of the epidemic at which the number of cases is rising rapidly. Unfortunately, that means that the numbers of people becoming seriously unwell and dying are also, sadly, rising. Of course, we hope that the lockdown measures that we are asking people to comply with will have a marked effect on the spread of the virus, and that we will see a slowdown in the next few weeks. However, given that these measures take some time to have an impact, it is too early to draw any firm conclusions yet. In any event, we must continue to plan for what will be a considerable impact on the national health service and on wider society.
First, I will address the impact on the NHS, which I must say is being felt already, and the steps that we are continuing to take to respond to that. We have already seen an increase in intensive care patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, from 51 in intensive care this time last week to 147 as of last night—that, in itself, is an increase from 135 yesterday.
Unfortunately, we expect that increase to continue for at least a further two or three weeks. However, I can advise Parliament that we have now achieved our initial target of doubling intensive care capacity in Scotland to 360 beds. Given that some of that capacity will still be required for other urgent care, that provides us with approximately 250 intensive care unit beds that can be used exclusively for Covid-19 patients.
I can also advise Parliament that we are now working to quadruple intensive care capacity to more than 700 beds for Covid-19 patients. To deliver that increase, we have ordered ventilators from a range of manufacturers and we expect those to arrive over the coming weeks. However, to bridge any gaps between now and the delivery of new ventilators, NHS boards have been working to repurpose operating theatre anaesthetic machines for use as ventilators. That is not a long-term solution, but it will allow us, over the next week or so, to rapidly increase capacity to more than 500 intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients. I pay tribute to all the NHS clinicians, medical physics colleagues and technicians who have worked non-stop in recent days to make that happen.
Our current modelling of the spread of the virus—I stress that it assumes continued high compliance with the lockdown measures—together with the steps that we are taking to increase ICU capacity, suggests that our intensive care units are now in a stronger position to cope with the expected peak of the epidemic. However, I again stress that we are in no way complacent about that and that we will continue to give all possible support to those who are working so hard on the front line. It is worth stressing again, because it is so important, that what I have just said assumes that people across the country will continue to do the right thing. Every single one of us who follows the public health advice is helping to reduce the number of people who will need hospital care in the weeks ahead and is therefore helping to reduce the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed.
The measures to increase intensive care capacity are part of a wider effort to ensure that the NHS has enough beds overall to cope with Covid-19 patients. I can report that, as of last night, including those in intensive care, there were 1,153 patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in hospitals across the country. Clearly, expanding general hospital capacity is also important, and I can report to Parliament that we are on track with that. The target that we set at the start of the month of quickly reducing delayed discharge cases by 400 has already been met and we are now working to go further. That is of course good for patients, who should not be spending longer in hospital than they need to, but it also makes more hospital beds available for those who need clinical care. Overall, the NHS currently has around 13,000 beds, and through the reduction in delayed discharge and the postponement of non-urgent elective care, we estimate that at least 3,000 beds will be available to treat Covid-19 patients.
In addition to those 3,000 beds in our existing hospital network, this week we announced our intention to create a new temporary NHS hospital at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow. We expect the facility to be ready to care for patients within a fortnight. Initially, it will have 300 beds available, with the capacity ultimately to care for 1,000 patients if that proves to be necessary. Let me be clear that our current hope and expectation is that that hospital will not need to be used. However, we are—rightly, I think—preparing now so that we are ready if necessary.
In addition to hospital capacity, which is extremely important, we are all well aware of the vital role that NHS 24, general practitioners and primary care more generally are playing in the efforts to deal with the virus. The NHS 24 111 number is now the first port of call at any time of day or night for anyone who is concerned about Covid-19 symptoms. The service has been under tremendous pressure and I want to thank everyone there for an exceptional response. Patients calling 111 who need further advice or care are now being referred to new community hubs that are staffed by clinicians from across the healthcare system. If necessary, those patients will be given an appointment at one of our new Covid-19 assessment centres. That new network of hubs and assessment centres will allow GPs to focus more of their time on patients who have needs other than Covid-19 needs.
However, GPs are also dealing with significant pressure. Yesterday, we announced £15 million of extra funding to help with that. The money will support additional non-clinical staff and additional locum cover if GPs need to take sickness leave. The funding will also reduce the pressure that might otherwise have been placed on out-of-hours services by ensuring that many GPs will be able to remain open on Good Friday and Easter Monday this year.
The final health issue that I want to cover is the welfare of health and care workers. Testing is an important part of that. We are working at pace right now to significantly increase our testing capacity. We have already gone from the ability to do around 750 tests a day just a couple of weeks ago to being able to do around 1,900 tests a day now. Over the course of the next month, that will increase to around 3,500 tests a day. It is important to stress that that increase will be delivered within the NHS laboratory network. Commercial partnerships that are being developed at the United Kingdom level will increase capacity beyond that. As part of one of those partnerships, a new laboratory has already been established in Glasgow, which we expect to be operational within the next two weeks.
As testing capacity expands, we will progressively increase the number of health and care service workers who are tested. We have already published guidance to support that.
The other two immediate priorities for testing remain the treatment of serious illness and community surveillance, both of which are extremely important. However, we will also carefully consider the role of more extensive testing as part of our strategy—at the right time, of course—to bring the country out of the current lockdown measures.
What I have talked about so far is, of course, diagnostic testing, which tells people whether they have the virus. We remain hopeful that antibody testing, which confirms whether a person has had the virus, will also be available soon. We will keep Parliament updated on that.
I turn to the provision of personal protective equipment. The importance of ensuring that our health and care workers have adequate supplies of the right equipment simply cannot be overstated. Over the past four to six weeks, around 34 million items of personal protective equipment have been delivered to hospitals across Scotland to provide care for Covid-19 patients. Over this week, we are issuing almost 8 million items of personal protective equipment stock to staff across primary care and social care. That includes around eight weeks’ supply for primary care practitioners. We have reasonably good supplies of all key items at this stage, although it is important to say that we may face challenges in the future as global pressure on those supplies continues to intensify.
We have taken steps to improve not just the supply of PPE but its distribution. For example, NHS National Services Scotland is now operating a triage service so that it can respond more quickly to urgent requests for PPE from health and social care providers. There is a fundamental principle at stake, which I, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and the entire Government take extremely seriously: given everything that health and care workers are doing to protect us right now, we must do everything that we can to protect them.
In addition to the action that we are taking to improve the capacity of the health service, we, of course, continue to be acutely aware of the growing economic impact of the crisis. Many businesses perform an essential role. I thank those who are working to keep the country going at this time: people in the essential retail industry and our food and drink sector, our pharmacists, those in our energy sector, our road hauliers, and many more besides. I also thank all businesses that have done the right thing by prioritising the health of their workers, applying the precautionary principle, and deciding to close at this time. I know how hard that is, and I am hugely grateful.
As a further example of that, we heard confirmation earlier today that, for the first time in more than 70 years, the Edinburgh festivals will not take place this summer. That is a heartbreaking decision, but it is absolutely the right one, and it is another sign of how far reaching the impact of the epidemic will be. We have agreed that some Scottish Government support for the festivals can be used for different purposes, such as ensuring that freelancers and artists are still paid, and we will work with the festivals to ensure that they return even stronger next year.
More generally, the Scottish Government has welcomed the support that has been made available by the UK Government, including the measures that were announced on Thursday to help self-employed workers, although we will continue to press for improvements where necessary.
We have introduced a £2.2 billion package of support for businesses in Scotland. More than £1 billion of that package is for the business support fund, which will make grants of up to £10,000 available to small businesses and grants of up to £25,000 available to eligible properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. The business support fund is being administered by local authorities, and I understand that approximately 30,000 applications for grants totalling £350 million have already been received.
We want to get money to businesses as quickly as possible. I can therefore confirm that the Scottish Government is today transferring £950 million to local authorities so that payments can start going into the bank accounts of eligible businesses from Monday. I know how desperately hard the past few weeks have been for businesses, and I hope that those payments, together with the wider support that is available from the Scottish and UK Governments, will go some way in helping.
The final area that I want to cover is volunteering. On Monday, we launched the Scotland cares campaign, which encourages people to sign up to help their community. There are three different ways in which people can help. Medical students, or former NHS staff, can apply for positions working in health and care. In addition, anyone can sign up as a community reserve volunteer. That part of the programme will be co-ordinated by the Red Cross. People can also take up volunteering opportunities in existing organisations through Volunteering Scotland. It is still possible to sign up. Anybody who wants to volunteer but has not yet done so will find information on the readyscotland.org website.
The response to the campaign in the first few days has been brilliant. I can tell Parliament that, so far, a total of 41,000 people have registered an interest. They exemplify the sense of solidarity and community that has already characterised so much of the response to this epidemic.
That solidarity and sense of community must continue. I do not underestimate how difficult life is right now, but the fact is that staying at home remains the best way in which we can all show that we care about our families, friends, neighbours and communities. It is, in fact, the single most important contribution that any of us can make to tackling the epidemic.
We must, of course, continue to reach out to other people, even as we remain physically separated from each other. By staying closely in touch, we will all find it easier to stay physically distant. By doing the right things, and by remembering that what really matters in life is our health, love and solidarity, we will slow the spread of this virus, we will protect the NHS, we will save lives and we will get through this. I end by again giving my sincere thanks to everyone across Scotland who is playing their part.