Chamber and committees

The roadmap document published on 21 May sets out the criteria for easing restrictions: as we move beyond the first phase, future phases will be based on meeting particular criteria, including those set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There have been two approaches to assessment of the impact of easing restrictions on the R value. Firstly, the Scottish Government uses the publicly available Imperial College COVID-19 model adapted to fit the situation in Scotland. This uses data for other nations to estimate the impact on R of different interventions (or groups of interventions) introduced by other nations. The second approach estimates the change in the risk of COVID-19 transmission from options for easing restrictions. This is based on how many people are involved in a particular option and the change in risk of any individual transmitting the virus based on the science available at time of assessment.

From 28 May to 7 June, 681 index cases have been recorded in the Test and Protect system. From these, 741 contacts have been traced.

An 'index case' is a person with a positive test result recorded in the Test and Protect system. New data will be released weekly, and is available from Public Health Scotland's weekly statistical report: https://publichealthscotland.scot/news/initial-contact-tracing-figures-for-scotland/ .

A further expansion of testing for care home residents and workers was announced on 1 May, which again focused on social care workers and care home residents. This includes undertaking enhanced outbreak investigation in all care homes where there are cases; comprehensive surveillance testing in care homes where there are no cases; and, testing across linked or group care homes, where staff may still be moving between homes following an outbreak in one. That same day, the NHS Scotland Chief Performance Officer wrote to all health boards, requesting that they start to implement these policies from 4 May.

In a further measure to protect residents and staff, it was announced on 18 May, that all staff in care homes will be routinely offered testing regardless of whether they are symptomatic. Based on the advice from the Chief Medical Officer, this testing will be routinely carried out every 7 days, regardless of whether there has been a confirmed Covid-19 case in the care home or not. This is in addition to the current measures operating across care homes in Scotland.

Any decision to purchase tests for a large-scale roll-out of antibody testing in Scotland will be led by clinical advice.

Antibody testing has been underway since 6 May in Scotland to support disease surveillance and we are in the process of validating a number of antibody tests to identify which ones carry the right level of efficacy and those which are identified as meeting the required quality standards will be prioritised for purchase.

As new and more reliable tests become validated, we are drawing on clinical and scientific advice to develop plans on how they will be best deployed. However, there are still significant uncertainties about what the presence of antibodies means in terms of a person’s immunity, which means that there are significant limitations in the usefulness of these tests at the current time.

These tests can have a crucial part to play in our response to COVID-19, and we will continue to listen to advice on the emerging scientific evidence on immunity.

The National Clinical and Practice Guidance for Adult Care Homes in Scotland states that staff should not work in more than one facility and movement between care homes must be restricted. It is recognised that this can be a fine balance in achieving appropriate staffing levels, service sustainability and reducing the risks of transmission.

It is critical that we protect care homes and their residents by using infection prevention and control techniques to reduce the impact of this virus. Health Protection Scotland has published specific guidance for infection prevention and control to support those working in care home settings which is regularly updated on their website.

The Social Care Covid19 Accelerated recruitment portal, to support social care employers should they require additional staff, remains in place to support the resilience of the workforce. This enables those with relevant skills and experience to come forward and support health and social care services at this time of national emergency, reducing the need for agency staff.

Care providers have direct access to this portal if they require support due to staff shortages.

SG is informed by the outputs of SAGE. The relative increase in R value using different models and assumptions for school openings is published in the behavioural science report on relaxing school closures. As these model outputs demonstrate relative increases as a result of school opening scenarios, the lower the R value at the time of opening, the less likely that R rises above 1.

Any effects on the R number from moving to phase 1 would be apparent after 2 to 3 weeks. We now publish the R range on a weekly basis. Up to the 22 May, R in Scotland was estimated to have remained between 0.7 & 1.0, though this has fallen to the range 0.6-0.8 for the week of 04 June.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28355 on 25 June 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

This information is not held centrally. It may be available on request from local authorities.

In Scotland, testing is carried out both by NHS Scotland and as part of the UK Government’s drive-through and mobile testing facilities.

Through NHS laboratories, our expectation is that test results should normally be communicated back within 24 hours, though some may take up to 48 hours.

Currently, the average total turnaround time in local health board is just over 19 hours. Where tests are sent to another health board for processing, the total turnaround time is just over 44 hours. We are continuing to work with NHS National Services Scotland to secure reliable data on turnaround times to provide a baseline to report against on a weekly basis.

For testing carried out by the UK Government, the vast majority of test results are sent automatically within 48 hours, or 72 hours for home tests. As at 10 June, turnaround times for tests sent to the Lighthouse labs was 99.4% in 48 hours.

Work continues across all labs to reduce the turn around time for PCR test to as low as possible.