Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government had no role in deciding this game should go ahead – operational responsibility for football matches rests with the Safety Advisory Group as the local licensing authority. This match was governed by UEFA, with the Scottish FA suspending all football under its auspices on 14 March.

Testing capacity of 350 tests per day was available in Scotland from early February 2020. Since then NHS testing capacity has grown significantly and is now over 6,000 tests per day, and adding in capacity from the Glasgow Lighthouse laboratory brings this to over 15,500 tests per day at the end of April.

The Scottish Government has a webpage which provides comprehensive advice on Coronavirus in Scotland, including signposting to health, safety and UK Government advice which includes further information on the furlough scheme. The website was updated on 29 May to include a section specifically for workers and employers to direct them to existing Scottish Government guidance, to ensure they are aware of the current guidance regarding returning to work. The web page can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/ .

In addition to our new webpage, we are supporting Healthy Working Lives (part of Public Health Scotland) to further develop their web based support for employers and employees seeking advice relating to COVID-19. Further information can be found at https://covid19.healthyworkinglives.scot/ . We are also supporting Scottish Hazards to allow them to continue to provide a telephone advice line for workers seeking workplace health and safety advice. Scottish Hazards can be contacted on 0800 0015 022.

We have a good understanding of the transmission of COVID-19 but this continues to evolve as new evidence becomes available.

Transmission is through two main routes: droplet and contact. Airborne transmission may also occur in certain circumstances, for example during aerosol generating procedures (AGPs).

The latest evidence suggests surface contacts are likely to be the most significant transmission route.

It also suggests that the virus lasts on surfaces at a level that may pose risk of transmission for 48 hours, while it is unlikely to exist within the air after 30 minutes

Hence environmental decontamination (cleaning and disinfection) is an important mitigating action to contain the spread of COVID-19. If you are cleaning after a known or suspected case of COVID-19 then refer to the guidance on cleaning in non-healthcare settings .

However, decontamination needs to be done alongside other measures such as physical distancing, frequent hand washing, wearing face coverings in enclosed spaces and on public transport, and cough etiquette; as well as, where it is deemed appropriate, wearing PPE.

The letter from the Chief Medical Officer to those people considered most at risk from COVID-19 is published as part of an update to GPs and can be found at the following link

https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/cmo/DC20200413Shielding.pdf

I can confirm that Health Protection Scotland have advised that, further to a risk assessment, no deep clean was required for public health purposes. This is based on the time interval between detection of the case and their contact with the store exceeding 72 hours. This was in line with UK guidance on decontamination advice at the time.

It is for the store/company to decide whether it will undertake a deep clean under these circumstances.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to produce data on the number of patients who have died after discharge.

To collect this data PHS will be required to bring together the discharge database with National Records for Scotland death records. Once linked, PHS will be required to check the data for robustness and accuracy. And once they are confident in the robustness and accuracy of the data we will ensure it is made publicly available.

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Scottish Government received expert health protection and public health advice from a range of scientific experts including the Chief Medical Officer, Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Health Protection Network, NERVTAG and the Advisory Committee of Dangerous Pathogens.

We will continue to be guided the best scientific advice and expertise in relation to all aspects of health protection and public health.

Through NHS laboratories, our expectation is that test results should normally be communicated back within 24 hours, but some may take up to 48 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 expanded testing sites the vast majority of test results are sent automatically within 48 hours, or 72 hours for home tests.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): test, trace, isolate, support strategy was published on 4 May 2020 and sets out plans to help disrupt community transmission of the virus. The strategy is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-test-trace-isolate-support/