Tag: clusters

First Minister: Latest info on COVID clusters, testing and face coverings in schools

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing at St Andrew’s House yesterday (Tuesday 25 August): 

Hello everybody and welcome to today’s update. I will start with the usual update on the COVID statistics. I can tell you that an additional 44 positive cases were confirmed yesterday which is 0.8% of people newly tested, and means that the total number of cases now 19,921.

The full health board breakdown will be available later, but my provisional information is that 7 of the 44 new cases are in Tayside, where of course, we are dealing with the cluster involving the Two Sisters food processing plant.

I can also confirm that a total of 243 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed COVID which five fewer than yesterday.

And one person is currently in intensive care and that’s the same as yesterday.

Again in the past 24 hours, no deaths were registered of patients who had tested positive in the previous 28 days for the virus. Which means that the number of deaths under that measurement is still 2,492.

This week’s more comprehensive figure, which includes deaths where COVID was either confirmed through a test or presumed will be published by National Records of Scotland tomorrow.

These figures obviously continue to be a stark reminder of the impact this COVID has had and again I want to express condolences to everybody who has been bereaved as a result of it.

And again today my thanks go to everyone who is working hard in a whole number of different ways across the country to help us through this difficult period.

There are three issues I want to cover today. Firstly, I’ll give just a bit more detail on the main clusters that we are dealing with right now.

In Aberdeen, there are 261 cases associated with the cluster linked to pubs in the city.  That’s an increase of two since yesterday. But it’s worth noting that one of those cases had already been reported – but has only now been linked to the original cluster.

These figures generally point to the good progress that has been made, in containing this outbreak.  And I’m very grateful to everyone in Aberdeen for their patience – and their compliance with the restrictions that have been in place.

In relation to the outbreak linked to the 2 Sisters plant in Coupar Angus, as of yesterday, there were 152 positive cases linked to it – 134 of those were workers of the factory, and 18 were contacts of those workers.

The process of contact tracing there continues.  And so I would expect that we’ll see these numbers rise a bit more in the days to come.

Just to give you some context, over the past six days, the mobile testing unit, at the 2 Sisters plant itself, has tested more than 900 people – and other testing sites in Dundee, Forfar and Perth have, between them, tested more than 2,500 people.

And the bit I want to stress, although I would repeat that we’re not complacent about this, but at this stage there is still no evidence of wider community transmission from this outbreak and that of course is positive, given the scale of the outbreak that we have been dealing with.

I want to thank everyone who is involved in managing it. It’s a huge amount of work that is being done and let me thank also, employees at the factory – and their households – who of course are now self-isolating. 

And let me stress how important it is that people in those households do self-isolate for the entire period advised and that is until Monday 31 August. 

I can understand that there will be a temptation to nip out, maybe to go to a shop or to go to see other people, but please do not do that.  Even if you have had a negative test in the last few days, it is still possible that you could still develop and spread the virus so please follow all of the guidance and stay at home.

It is because people are complying with that, that so far we are managing to avoid this outbreak seeping into the community. So please bear with it and stick with it so that we can continue with that success.

Finally, there are a number of cases not least in Lanarkshire, involving individuals who attend schools. 

The health protection teams locally are dealing with all of these cases, where necessary they have and will continue to write to parents and carers of children in relevant classes, advising them that their children should self-isolate. 

I want to stress in relation to all of these outbreaks that we’re dealing with just now, and indeed, the situation with schools, we are not unduly concerned by any of these situations right at this moment. 

That said, we are not complacent either. As you will appreciate, we will continue to monitor, all cases, clusters and outbreaks very very closely indeed.

The second issue I want to talk about today concerns some issues that people have been over the last day or so in booking tests, through the UK-wide booking system.

Over the weekend, there was a major spike in demand for testing, not just in Scotland, but we think across the UK, and that led to some constraints on the booking portal, throughout the day yesterday.   And that in turn resulted in a surge of calls to our COVID-19 helpline.

I know this will have been frustrating for people trying to book a test. I want to thank you all for bearing with us, as we’ve worked to address these issues and I want to just run through some of the work that is being done to do just that.

Now some of what I would describe as technical issues, for example, people in Scotland being offered tests in centres outside Scotland are being resolved – that shouldn’t be happening.

Where any technical issues do arise, as unfortunately with a system of this scale and complexity might sometimes do, we will endeavour to have those sorted as quickly as possible.

On the issue of capacity though, which is the more significant issue, we’ve always known that there will be fluctuations in demand for testing. That’s why we have contingency plans in place and these contingency plans are already, as we speak, being activated.

For example, over the course of this week, we will be deploying three additional mobile testing units, across the central belt of Scotland. The first of these will be operational in Glasgow today, this afternoon, and the other two will be operational later this week.  In total, they will increase capacity by around 1,200-1,500 tests every day.  

We are also, over the course of this week, further increasing the number of tests that can be carried out at the regional testing centres, across the country and we are also utilizing additional NHS testing capacity. For example, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will be activating drive-through facilities to help manage demand in their local area.

In the more medium term, but already this is work that has been in progress, we are also establishing eleven local walk-through testing centres.  The first of these will be housed in the Victory Memorial Hall in St Andrews. And together, they will help to increase sampling capacity by more than 3,000 tests a day.

So we will continue to implement these plans to further increase capacity as we head into winter, as we have always been preparing to do.

But we will also continue work to sure appropriate contingencies are in place for periods when we  have higher than expected demand for testing – which is likely to happen as we go into winter but, at any point, if there perhaps is another virus circulating, a cold that is leading, perhaps in particular, to children having symptoms similar to COVID then we know we will see these spikes in demand and that’s why we need to have these contingencies in place to deal with them.

But let me take this opportunity, just to remind everyone, that you should only book a test, either for yourself or for a family member, if you or they do have one of the COVID symptoms; a new persistent cough, a fever, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste or smell.

The exceptions to that general position of only booking a test if you have symptoms are firstly if you are advised to do by Test and Protect, sometimes Test and Protect will advise people, who have been contacts of confirmed cases but who don’t have symptoms, to go for a test.

And secondly, if you work in a profession with agreed access to testing, for example, staff working in schools, but otherwise, only book a test if you have one of the symptoms that we often and regularly remind you of.

Now the third issue I want to cover today is the use of face coverings in schools.

As I said yesterday, our scientific advisory group has been looking closely at this issue – particularly in light of the new World Health Organisation guidance, which was published at the weekend. 

As a result of that work, the advisory group has recommended changes to our current guidance in Scotland.  Their recommendations are based on the latest scientific evidence – as well as the real-life experiences of schools, since they reopened a number of days ago.  And the Scottish Government –  in consultation with the Education Recovery Group – has now agreed the changes proposed.

It’s possibly worth just reminding people of what the current guidance says before I set out what the changes to that are.  In general, the current guidance advises that face coverings in the classroom are not necessary.  However, it says that staff should wear them, if they can’t physically distance, and are having face-to-face interaction with pupils for more than around 15 minutes.

The guidance also currently emphasises that staff and pupils should be supported to wear face coverings, if they wish to do so. That advice remains unchanged. 

However, the new guidance will now include two additional situations where face coverings should be worn. 

Firstly, as I indicated yesterday, adults and pupils in secondary schools should wear face coverings when they are moving around school in areas where distancing is challenging – for example, through corridors or in communal spaces.

And secondly, adults and children aged 5 and over should wear face coverings on dedicated school transport.   That of course simply now mirrors the situation on public transport more generally.

Now in both of these situations, there is a greater potential for different groups to mix.  There is more chance of voices being raised – resulting in the creation of aerosols.  And of course, there is less scope for distancing and effective ventilation. So we believe that face coverings could provide an additional layer of protection, in mitigating these factors.

The guidance will also now emphasise how face coverings can be used to address specific issues – for example, where there is a concern about a particular school, or where there is an outbreak or greater transmission in a particular area.

All of these changes will apply from next Monday – 31 August.   Before then, schools will be expected to provide pupils with clear instructions on the use of face coverings.  

We expect that most children and young people will have access to face coverings already as part of their daily lives.  However, we will work with local authorities, to ensure that schools also have supplies – so that no child is disadvantaged.

There are of course people for whom wearing a face covering is not appropriate – which is why there are already exemptions in place for individuals with breathing difficulties or certain disabilities when it comes to wearing a covering in places like supermarkets. 

So there will also be young people for whom it is not appropriate to wear a face covering in school and schools will of course discuss that with pupils and parents.  But let me be clear that nobody should be stigmatised in a school because they cannot, for one of those reasons, wear a face covering.

We hope that these changes provide some additional assurance to pupils, staff, and parents. We know it’s not easy, none of what we ‘re all having to live with right now, generally or in schools, is easy but it is all about trying to minimise the risk of transmission. And we will of course continue to keep the guidance under review.

I want to emphasise though, and this applies not just in schools but applies more generally, face coverings are just one additional layer of protection.  They are not a substitute for the other things we’re asking people to do. All of the other safety measures –good hand hygiene, regular cleaning, and where possible in schools, physical distancing – remain vitally important.

Of course, that applies not just to people in schools, but to all of us.  So to close today, I want to quickly remind everyone – again – of the key public health guidance.

We know indoor transmission is a risk, we’ve always known that, and we see the evidence of that  coming through our data right now, so can I take the opportunity to remind everybody that when you are indoors, no more than eight people from a maximum of three households should be meeting up.  That applies whenever you are in somebody’s house, or in a pub, a bar or a restaurant. 

You should – at all times – physically distance from members of other households.  And remember to wash your hands and hard surfaces.

All of this, if we all follow these rules, minimises our chances of getting the virus and it also minimises the risk of us passing the virus on to others.

And as I said yesterday, and it’s worth everybody bearing this in mind, as Test and Protect operates around the country, if you follow all of these rules, particularly around physical distancing, you are less likely to be a contact, a close contact, of someone with COVID. So you are less likely to get that call from Test and Protect advising you to self-isolate for 14 days.

Let me absolutely bring my remarks to a close now by just reminding everybody of the FACTS rules – the five golden rules that everybody must follow to try to keep this virus under control:

  • Face coverings in enclosed spaces
  • Avoid crowded places
  • Clean your hands and hard surfaces regularly
  • Two metre distancing remains the overall rule
  • and self-isolate, and book a test, if you have symptoms.

Thank you, once again, for listening today.

Lockdown review: First Minister clamps down on house parties

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Scottish Parliament yesterday (Thursday 20 August):

Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government is required by law to review lockdown restrictions every three weeks. The latest review falls due today, and I will shortly report on the decisions we have reached.

First, though, I will report on today’s statistics and other developments.

Since yesterday, an additional 77 cases of COVID have been confirmed – that represents 1% of those newly tested yesterday, and takes the total number now to 19,534. 

This is the highest number of new cases in almost three months, which underlines the need for continued caution.

A total of 249 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed COVID, which is a increase of 1 since yesterday.

And 2 people are in intensive care which is the same as yesterday.

And in the past 24 hours, 0 deaths have been registered of patients who had been confirmed through a test as having the virus.

The total number of deaths in Scotland under that measurement therefore remains at 2,492.

However yesterday’s figures from National Records of Scotland – which reported three COVID deaths during the previous week – showed that the total number of deaths is higher than that, and of course it showed that people are still dying from this virus. 

And we must never lose sight of the grief and heartbreak caused by every one of those deaths. And I want again to send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness.

Let me turn now to the review of lockdown restrictions.

I am not able to indicate, today, a move from phase 3 of our route map out of lockdown to phase 4. We will remain, for now, in phase 3 and I must give notice today that this may well be the case beyond the next review point too.

For us to move to phase 4, we would have to be satisfied , and I’m quoting from our routemap, that ‘the virus is no longer considered a significant threat to public health’.

As today’s figures have demonstrated, and as has been confirmed to me in advice from the Chief Medical Officer, this is definitely not the case.

Today’s update therefore sets out which phase 3 restrictions will be changed in the coming weeks, while other necessary restrictions remain in place.

This has of course involved some difficult and delicate decisions.

The figures we have been reporting in recent weeks show that incidence and prevalence of the virus continue to be at low levels in Scotland as a whole.

However, the range for our R number has recently increased, and our most recent estimates suggest that it could currently be above 1. Of course, this is partly because, when prevalence is generally low, localised outbreaks have a bigger effect on the R number. That said though we must continue to monitor it closely.

We are also recording more positive cases than three weeks ago. When we last reviewed the lockdown measures, we had recorded 14 new cases a day, on average, over the previous week. We are now recording 52 new cases a day on average.

And in the past three weeks we have seen one significant outbreak of the virus in Aberdeen, and a number of smaller clusters in locations across the country.

We are also now dealing with a significant cluster in Coupar Angus, linked to a 2 Sisters food processing plant. And that is no doubt reflected in the fact that 27 of today’s 77 cases are in the Tayside health board area.

In total, 43 cases have been so far identified as part of that outbreak – that is 37 people who work in the plant, and 6 contacts of theirs. This number will almost certainly grow. We are stressing the importance of all workers at the plant self-isolating and getting tested. A mobile testing unit remains on site, and the factory has been closed down for a two week period. Given the nature and potential scale of this outbreak, we are considering carefully and urgently whether further restrictions are necessary. I will chair a further meeting of Scottish Government’s resilience committee later this afternoon.

In addition, there are several cases linked to schools which are worth noting. A total of 8 adults at Kingspark school in Dundee have tested positive, which has prompted the decision to temporarily close that school.

In addition, the number of cases in the cluster in north east Glasgow now stands at 16. There is also a separate but linked cluster of 9 cases in Coatbridge. A number of the cases in these clusters are school children, although there is no evidence that they contracted the virus in school. Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board are also carrying out contact tracing around several other schools in Glasgow.

Finally, on clusters, there were 12 new cases in Grampian yesterday. On the latest figures available, a total of 407 cases have been identified in the Grampian Health Board area since 26 July.

237 of these are associated with the cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1,185 contacts have now been identified from those 237 cases.

As I said yesterday, there is evidence now that the original cluster of cases linked to pubs is coming under control, but in recent days we have continued to see new cases which do not seem to be linked to that first cluster. Because of that, restrictions in Aberdeen have been extended, but they will be reviewed again on Sunday, with a view to setting out – if possible – a firm timetable for lifting the restrictions.

All of these outbreaks are being tackled by our test and protect teams, and current evidence on their performance suggests that the vast majority of contacts are being identified, and most of them are being identified quickly.

However, the clusters and new cases highlight a continued need for caution – especially since our priority continues to be to keep schools safely open.

Of course, these clusters are not completely unexpected. We have always known that reopening more services and premises – especially indoor bars, restaurants and cafés – might lead to an increase in cases.

And indeed two major risk factors have stood out in reports of recent clusters. As we expected, indoor hospitality – bars and restaurants – is one. The other is social events and gatherings in people’s homes. 

We have already tightened some of the rules in relation to the indoor hospitality sector – for example by putting guidance on a statutory footing, and making it compulsory now to collect customers’ contact data.

I will announce further measures intended to aid compliance at the end of this statement.

Understanding the risks of these indoor settings, has also made us think carefully about further changes and the need to ensure rigorous compliance with guidelines.

On balance, taking account of the different harms that COVID and the restrictions imposed to tackle it are inflicting on the country, we have decided that the re-openings pencilled in for the 24 August can proceed.

I must stress though that such re-opening should only happen when the appropriate guidance covering that activity or setting has been implemented. We will also monitor the impact carefully and, as with everything else, we will not hesitate to reimpose restrictions should that prove necessary.

Full details will be available on the Scottish Government website but the 24  August changes include some outdoor live events – with physical distancing, enhanced hygiene and restricted numbers.

Organised outdoor contact sports will also resume for people of all ages. But for outdoor coaching sessions, there will be a cap of 30 on the total number of people who can be coached at any one time.

Driving lessons will resume.

And indoor face to face advice services – for example Citizens Advice – can also open to provide financial advice when necessary.

We have given particularly careful consideration to premises like bingo halls, because these share some obvious similarities with the indoor hospitality sector.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that guidance is strictly adhered to and we will be monitoring that carefully.

Let me now turn to the reopening of gyms, swimming pools, and indoor sports courts. Three weeks ago, I indicated that they could reopen from 14 September, but I also said then that we would consider if that date could safely be brought forward – especially given the wider physical and mental health benefits of access to these facilities.

Having done so, I am now able confirm that these facilities can reopen – subject to guidance being in place – from 31 August.

For indoor sports courts – which includes dance studios and gymnastics – it is worth stressing that for people aged 12 and over, the reopening on this date applies to non-contact activity only.

These are the only key changes to restrictions that we plan to make within this review period.

However, we hope that further changes will be possible from Monday 14 September, in line with what is currently set out in the routemap.

However, I must stress these possible changes are at this stage indicative only.

And given the volatility we face in transmission of the virus, there is a very real possibility that some or all of these plans could change.

However, with that significant caveat, we hope that from 14 September, sports stadia will be able to reopen, though only for limited numbers of spectators and with strict physical distancing in place.

Some professional sports events might be arranged for spectators before then – with Scottish Government agreement – to test the safety of any new arrangements.

We also hope that from 14 September, indoor contact sports activities can resume for people aged 12 and over.

And we hope that entertainment sites and cultural venues – such as theatres and live music venues – will be able to reopen from that date too, but with strict physical distancing in place. To facilitate that, these venues can re-open for preparation and rehearsal from 24 August.

Finally, we hope that from 14 September, wedding and civil partnership receptions and funeral wakes will be able to take place with more attendees than at present, although numbers will remain restricted. We intend to set out more detail on this, including on permitted numbers, shortly.

These are the activities and premises for which we are currently setting indicative dates – but I want to stress again that these are indicative dates at this stage.

We are unfortunately not yet setting a date for the reopening of non-essential call centres and offices. We will review this again at the next review point.

For now, working from home will remain the default position.

I know that many office workers miss seeing their colleagues, and many are keen to resume a more normal daily routine.

I also know that some businesses – however well they may be managing to work virtually – will want more of their employees to meet and work together.

And I am acutely aware of the impact of home working on services – like cafés and restaurants – which are based in areas with lots of office workers.

However a full return to office working – given the numbers involved – would significantly increase the risk of indoor transmission.

It would also make buses and trains significantly busier and increase transmission risks there too.

Our conclusion therefore is that a return to working in offices – unless that work is essential and cannot be completed at home – presents too great a risk at this time.

The impact it could have on community transmission would also make it more difficult to keep schools open.

And so this does unfortunately come down to difficult judgments about priorities.

We have made clear that our priority is to enable children to be safely back at school. And with the virus at its current levels, that means we cannot do everything else we would like to do – like bring back non-essential offices.

Now I know people will ask why their kids can go to school but they can’t go to the office, and that might seem like an inconsistency.

But that logic is back-to-front.

It is because you cannot go to the office – and because of the other restrictions we are keeping in place – that we are able to send children back to school.

If we opened everything up right now, the overall impact would simply be too great. The virus would run away from us – and we would, in all likelihood, be forced to reintroduce restrictions none of us want to see. We have only been able to relax some restrictions because others have remained in place.

There is one final issue I want to cover today.  It relates to the risks I mentioned earlier – of transmission inside people’s homes, and the risks of transmission in pubs, cafés and restaurants.

We have considered very carefully what further enforcement actions we can take to minimise the risk of transmission in those settings. 

For the indoor hospitality sector, I am grateful to the many pubs, restaurants and cafés who have opened responsibly – and who have gone to great lengths to stick to the rules and guidance on ventilation, hygiene, face coverings, contact details and physical distancing. Their efforts are hugely appreciated.

However we also know that not all hospitality businesses have implemented the guidance effectively. We therefore intend to strengthen the power of local authorities to act in these circumstances.

The Scottish Government has powers under emergency legislation to issue directions in respect of a class of premises – for example, directions to close all pubs in a particular postcode.

We intend to give local authorities the power to act in respect of individual, specific premises that are breaching guidelines and risking transmission of the virus.

This power would enable local authorities either to close such premises – or to impose conditions on them remaining open – where they deem that is necessary for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, or controlling the spread of infection. 

We believe this is an important – indeed a vital – but also a proportionate step, which will help local authorities ensure businesses stick to the guidelines and that action can be taken where these guidelines are being breached.

The second area we have been looking at carefully is indoor social events, like house parties.

We know from reports of our own test and protect teams – and we also from evidence from other places in the UK and indeed around the world – that these indoor events pose a major – a very significant transmission risk. And because the virus is so infectious if it is present at an event like this there is a very high likelihood that most people at the event get the virus.

That is why we advise strict limits on indoor gatherings. Right now, our advice is that no more than 8 people from a maximum of 3 different households should be gathering indoors.

The vast majority of people I know will be sticking to this, and it is not easy to do so, so I am very grateful to them for that.

But we also know that a minority don’t. And we know that large house parties pose a very real and significant risk of causing clusters and outbreaks – such as some of those we have been dealing with in recent days.

So – for use in cases of flagrant breach and as a last resort – we intend to give the police powers of enforcement to break up and disperse large indoor gatherings.

We believe that both of these new powers are necessary if we are to continue to suppress the virus, minimise the risk of outbreaks and keep it under control, which is so necessary.

We will lay the regulations for both of these measures next week and we intend that they will come into force from next Friday 28 August.

Presiding Officer, the last three weeks have given us mixed news. We have seen a rise in new cases, and a number of clusters across the country. We have also, regrettably, had to reimpose some restrictions in the city of Aberdeen.

But we still have low numbers of new cases overall. We have very low numbers of hospital admissions.

And we have strong and growing evidence that our test and protect teams and that system overall – is working well.

Given the resurgence of COVID that we are seeing in some parts of Europe – and given that we always knew that reopening more parts of the economy would be risky – the picture in Scotland could of course be better, but it could also be significantly worse.

We are still making progress in our overall fight against this virus

But we cannot take this progress for granted, especially if we are to keep our schools open; keep businesses and services open; and retain our ability to socialise and meet up in small groups of friends and family.

The fact is that COVID is still a major risk, and we must still be very cautious. We can see the evidence of that in Aberdeen, we see it in each new cluster across the country and of course we see it in reports from elsewhere in the UK, Europe, and around the world.

And that is why today’s review has sought to take a careful and a balanced approach.

I hope that the reopening of some services will be welcomed – and notwithstanding the risk that each and every reopening presents, we know it is essential to reduce the economic harm that the virus is doing. But I hope that people will also understand why – as we try to open services and keep them open – we must take firm action, when rules and guidance are not being complied with.

I also hope that everyone watching will understand that although government must and will take the lead – we make difficult decisions, we draft guidance, we propose laws – but we cannot control COVID on our own.

We are all dependent on the choices made by each and every single person in the country.

So please think carefully about whether you are playing your part as fully as you could and should be.

Please do not meet indoors in groups of more than 8 people from any more than three households – and that applies in a pub, café or restaurant, just as it does in someone’s home.

Remember physical distancing, and don’t go into crowded places where physical distancing may not be possible.

And ask yourself whether your social life feels normal – because it shouldn’t at the moment feel entirely normal.

Wherever you are, assume the virus is present and act at all times to avoid creating bridges that allow it to cross from one household to another.

I have spoken before about the importance of solidarity in how we all deal with this pandemic. And I know it is hard – especially after 5 months – but sticking to these rules is an expression of our care for each other.

It is the way in which we protect – not just ourselves, but our loved ones and our communities.

So for that reason, I will end by reminding everyone again of FACTS – the five golden rules that will help us stay safe, even as life gets back to something that is closer to normality.

  • F is Face coverings should be worn in enclosed spaces – public transport, shops and anywhere else that physical distancing is more difficult.
  • A – Avoid crowded areas, outdoors as well as indoors.
  • C – Clean your hands regularly and thoroughly, clean hard surfaces after touching them.
  • T – Two metre distancing remains the clear advice.

And S – Self isolate, and book a test immediately, if you have symptoms – a new cough; a fever, or a loss of, or a change in, your sense of taste or smell.

You can book a test at nhsinform.scot or by phoning 0800 028 2816.

Any time any one of us drops our guard, and forgets these rules, we give the virus a chance to spread. We risk turning an infection into a cluster, and a cluster into an outbreak.

But if all of us stick to the FACTS, we can continue to suppress it; we can keep schools and services open – and we can think about easing more restrictions in the future.

So my thanks go once again to everyone across the country who is helping to do exactly that.

FM concern over community COVID clusters

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House on Thursday 18th August:

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us again today. As usual I will start with giving you the national COVID-19 statistics for Scotland.

I can confirm that an additional 49 positive cases were confirmed yesterday.

Which represents 1% of the people who were newly tested yesterday, and takes the total number of cases in Scotland to 19,407.

A full health board breakdown will be available later, but my provisional information I have is that 7 of the 49 new cases are in the Grampian health board area.

Twelve are in Greater Glasgow & Clyde, six in Lanarkshire and sixteen in Tayside.

We are dealing with known clusters in each of these health board areas and I’ll come back to those shortly.

I can also confirm that a total of 254 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed COVID. That is six more than yesterday.

And three people are in intensive care, which is the same as yesterday.

I’m also pleased to report that yet again in the past 24 hours, no deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days. The number of deaths under that measurement therefore remains 2,491.

We should remember that the weekly National Records of Scotland figures – which include confirmed and presumed COVID deaths – showed last week that five people had died in the preceding seven days who were presumed to have had COVID or whose test was more than 28 days prior to death occurring.

This week’s more comprehensive figure will be published by NRS tomorrow.

That of course a stark reminder of the impact of this virus, it is still potentially very dangerous and of course my condolences again go to everyone who has suffered loss.

And as always, I want to thank everyone who is working hard still to help our country through this pandemic in whatever capacity you are doing so, you have our appreciation.

Now, I’m hoping that – circumstances permitting – we may shortly move to having these updates slightly less frequently, perhaps three days a week rather than five.

However, I think it is important this week, that I give regular updates on the variety of different clusters and outbreaks that are currently being tackled across the country.

I will start with Aberdeen, and given that and indeed the Grampian area more generally, have been responsible for a very significant proportion of all new cases we have seen in recent weeks.

I mentioned earlier that seven of today’s 49 new cases were in the Grampian area.

And I can report today that according to the latest figures we have a total of 386 cases have been now been identified in Grampian since the 26th of July.

220 of these are associated with the cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1125 contacts have now been identified from those 220 cases.

I can confirm today that 13 cases which had previously been identified but not allocated to the cluster have now following further investigation been added because they are considered to be associated with that cluster.

Now, the slightly more positive news is that in recent days we have seen a decline in new cases across the Grampian area.

Ten days ago, for example, we reported 39 new cases in one day. Today, we have reported seven.

The seven day average for cases has also fallen.

That suggests that the restrictions we put in place two weeks ago are having an impact – as are the efforts of our health protection teams.

However it is worth highlighting that over the past week new cases in Grampian are still higher than in other parts of the country.

We will have to take that fact into account, when we announce tomorrow whether or not there will be any change to the restrictions currently in place in Aberdeen.

The situation there does appear to be improving – but it is important to stress we can’t yet say that that outbreak is completely over.

I also mentioned yesterday about the cluster in Coupar Angus which is linked to a 2 Sisters food processing plant.

So far, I can report that this outbreak has nine confirmed cases associated with it – but I will be surprised, albeit pleasantly, if we don’t see that number rise in the days ahead.

Seven of the cases identified so far are employees of the factory, and two are people in the wider community. Contact tracing is ongoing for all of these cases.

The factory – which employs approximately 900 people in total – so it is a big workplace – closed down yesterday. A mobile testing unit is due on site today, so that the whole workforce can be tested.

This is a complex and potentially significant cluster.

In addition to the overriding public health concern relating to the outbreak, the closure of the plant potentially of course has an economic impact.

We also need to consider possible animal welfare issues – the animals which would have been sent to the factory in the next few days cannot currently be sent there.

For all of those reasons, we are monitoring all aspects of this situation very carefully and closely, and will provide further information in due course as and when it becomes available.

There are also some cases and clusters that have been identified in the last couple of days involving school pupils

For example, there are individual cases involving school students who go to primary schools in Blairgowrie, Perth and Paisley.

The health protection teams are dealing with these cases and have written to the parents and careers of the infected children’s classmates, to advise them where necessary that their own children should be isolating.

I also mentioned yesterday community clusters in Lanarkshire and North East Glasgow, which include secondary school students – and which appear to be linked to each other.

Now, it is important to stress that these are considered at this stage to be community clusters with an impact on schools, rather than school based clusters. That is an important distinction, it is not thought that the virus has transmitted within the schools

In Lanarkshire, the number of confirmed cases is eight, which includes five people from three different schools. The risk of infection at all three schools is considered low.

The cluster in Baillieston, North East Glasgow currently has 14 identified cases, some of which are students at one school.

Contact tracing is taking place for this cluster.

In addition – and this is of course relevant for both of those outbreaks I have just mentioned – there are mobile testing units at the Time Capsule car park in Coatbridge and at Ravenscraig, in addition to the testing centre at Glasgow airport.

Let me repeat a point I made earlier because I think it is really important for people to understand this. These are community based clusters. And there does appears to be a link with indoor social events.

And the evidence we have at this stage seems to suggest, not surprisingly given how infectious we know COVID is, that if the virus is present at say, a house party, everyone attending the party is at considerable risk of infection – and then of course, the risk is that they spread the infection more widely.

All of that underlines the vital importance right now of abiding by the restrictions on household gatherings.

If I can remind you of what those are, no more than eight people, from a maximum of three different households should be gathering indoors. And two metre distance should be maintained between people from different households.

These rules are not easy – I really do understand that. But not sticking to them is presenting perhaps one of our biggest risks of outbreaks occurring at this time.

So I can’t stress enough how important it is that we all do abide by and comply with these rules.

For all of the outbreaks I have mentioned, Test and Protect teams are working hard to identify individuals who need to self-isolate and get tested.

But as always, anybody who has symptoms – in these areas or indeed anywhere across Scotland – should book a test immediately.

The symptoms are a new cough, a high temperature, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste and smell. Tests can be booked through the NHS inform website.

And I would appeal to you again, don’t hesitate, don’t delay, don’t wait, even a few hours to see if you feel better. If you experience any of these symptoms, time is of the essence, book a test as quickly as you possibly can.

Before I conclude and move on to questions and the Chief Medical Officer is with me today who will assist me in answering the questions. I just want to come to the issue of schools and say a final few words. Firstly to stress again that all of the cases we have seen so far which have involved school students, suggest that transmission has taken place outside of the school not in the schools.

That emphasises again the importance of keeping transmission rates as low as possible in the community, continuing to do everything we can to drive these transmission rates down as close to elimination levels as we can. That’s good for our overall health and wellbeing and the overall fight against this virus but it is also the action that will allow us to keep schools safely open. And let’s not forget the importance of that objective.

It is overwhelmingly in the best interests of young people, particularly after 4 or 5 months where they have been out of school, to be in full time education. The harm to them of losing out on that are considerable.

But we will, I think inevitably see more cases which involve school students in the weeks and months ahead.

In those cases – as has happened in the ones I’ve mentioned today – contact tracers will identify if any other students or staff at the school need to isolate, and will let them and their parents know.

More generally, the Test and Protect system so far has worked well for each outbreak we have faced to date.

And for every cluster, incident management teams in the local area are considering the latest evidence, and assessing what further follow up actions need to take place. I once again want to thank everyone involved in those efforts.

So when I give updates like today’s – providing details of cases and clusters in different parts of the country, and particular when some cases involving schools – I don’t do that to alarm you. Partly, I do it to try to reassure that the appropriate steps are being taken and appropriate interventions are in place. But although I don’t want to alarm anybody, I do want people to take notice, in fact I need people to take notice.

These clusters show us that this virus continues to pose a serious risk. It is present in our communities, and that’s why I keep saying where ever you are, assume it is right next to you and capable, if you don’t do the right things, of being transmitted to you, and perhaps from you to somebody else.

We know, and the evidence coming from recent clusters is underlining this point, this is a highly infectious virus, and once it takes hold, it can spread rapidly. And the effort that is needed then through our Test and Protect teams to stop it spreading is considerable and remember, Test and Protect is our second line of defence, we are all the first line of defence.

So for all of these reasons, the Scottish Government may well again take a fairly cautious approach on Thursday, when I will announce in the Scottish Parliament the outcome of our review of the Phase 3 lockdown restrictions.

But for all of us, these clusters should remind us of the need to be ultra-careful right now.

They demonstrate in particular how quickly and easily COVID spreads in indoor environments – which is why I am asking you to be particularly careful about socialising indoors.

And remember that the limits I mentioned earlier – a maximum of eight people from no more than three different households – apply to groups in pubs and restaurants together, just as they do in people’s homes.

And finally before we move to questions, all of us must continue not to just remember FACTS but in everything we do, abide by the rules that are encapsulated in that FACTS campaign.

These are the five basic rules that will help all of us to contribute to stopping this virus spreading and getting out of control. So those five rules are;
· Face coverings in enclosed spaces
· Avoid crowded places indoors or outdoors
· Clean your hands regularly and remember to clean hard surfaces that you might be touching.
· Two metre distancing remains the overall rule. Even perhaps especially if you are mixing with other households indoors, in your own home or elsewhere and lastly
· Self-isolate, and book a test, if you have any of the symptoms of COVID that I mentioned earlier. A cough, a temperature, or a loss of, or change in your sense of taste or smell.

If we all do these things, we undoubtedly will continue to see clusters and outbreaks, but all of that will help us keep these contained and stop this virus taking a greater grip of us in terms of wider community transmission.

So, my thanks again to everybody for listening today and for continuing to do the right thing. And please, my usual plea at the end is, please spread this message to as many people as you can, so as many people as possible are following all of this vital health advice.

First Minister: Clusters, testing and care home discharges

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Monday 17 August):

Hello and thanks for joining us again today. Let me start with the usual update on the COVID-19 statistics.

I can confirm that an additional 26 positive cases were confirmed yesterday.

That represents 0.7% of the people who were newly tested yesterday, and it takes the total number of cases in Scotland to 19,358.

A full health board breakdown will be published later, but the provisional information I have is that 13 of the 26 new cases are in the Grampian Health Board area.

A total of 248 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed Covid which is five more than yesterday.

Three people are in intensive care which is the same number as yesterday.

I’m also very pleased to say that yet again in the past 24 hours, no deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days, and therefore the number of deaths under that measurement remains 2,491.

However that total of course is still a reminder of the dreadful impact this virus has had. My condolences again go to everyone who has suffered loss.

And as always, let me thank everyone who is still working hard in a variety of different capacities across the country to help us through this pandemic.

I have three issues I want to briefly update on today. First let me provide some further details about ongoing clusters and outbreaks across the country.

I mentioned a moment ago that 13 of the 26 new cases reported earlier were in the Grampian area. On the latest figures available, a total of 380 cases have been identified in the Grampian Health Board area since the 26th of July.

207 of these we think are associated with the same cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1050 contacts have now been identified from those 207 cases.

In addition, teams are still investigating community clusters in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire and in North East Glasgow. Those clusters of course include some young people who go to local schools and more detail and information about those clusters will be provided as it becomes available.

I can also advise today of a cluster in Coupar Angus which is linked to a 2 Sisters food processing plant. So far, this outbreak has 4 confirmed cases – however contact tracing and testing is still ongoing. The plant’s owners have closed the facility, as part of their work with us to control any outbreak.

These clusters obviously show that the virus is still out there and continues to pose a real and serious risk. It is highly infectious, and once it takes hold, it can spread very rapidly. All of us have a responsibility – in everything we do – to try to stop that from happening which is why we continue to stress the importance of the FACTS advice which I will come back to again at the end of my remarks.

These clusters also show the importance of the work being done by our public health and protect teams in different parts of the country as they work to identify contacts, and trace those contact and help to contain the outbreaks that have been identified. I want to take the opportunity again today thank them for the work they’re doing.

The second thing I want to highlight today is the publication of our updated testing strategy for this phase in the pandemic.

That sets out our current priorities for testing, based on the work we have already done to increase capacity and improve availability.

As you would expect, our top priority is to test anyone who has symptoms of Covid – a temperature, a new cough, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste or smell. Anyone who develops these symptoms should book a test immediately through the NHS Inform website.

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.

Our third priority is the routine testing of people who work in high 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.

Finally, the strategy sets out our intention to further increase testing capacity in Scotland. That will be increasingly important as we move into the autumn and winter, because in those months, more people will have symptoms, such as a new cold, which may be similar to Covid symptoms.

Current weekday capacity in Scotland is just over 40,000 tests a day. We want to and we’re working to increase that to 65,000 tests a day. We are also working to improve the accessibility of tests.

Overall, the strategy seeks to give a concise and clear explanation of who we are seeking to test, why we test them, and what our plans for the near future are. The Health Secretary will say a bit more about it in a moment.

It will be available to read on the Scottish Government website this afternoon for anyone who is interested.

The final point I want to cover relates to media coverage about care home discharges – and particularly the suggestion that in some cases people who were thought to have Covid were discharged from hospitals into care homes.

Let me be very clear – as I have been many times before – that proper scrutiny of all and every aspects of our response to Covid, including of course in care homes, is really essential.

And that scrutiny will and must include consideration of whether – based on what we knew at each stage – the guidance in place was both appropriate and properly implemented.

And that of course is why we have committed to a public inquiry in due course.

However, I want to again be clear also 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.

For example, from mid-March that included guidance requiring clinical screening of patients being transferred from hospitals to care homes, to guard against inappropriate transfer. It also advised social isolation within care homes.

However, it is right that all of this, is properly scrutinised in the inquiry that will be instructed in due course.

I’m about to hand over to the Health Secretary, and then to the National Clinical Director – but before I do that, I would like to end, as always, by stressing the importance of FACTS.

The clusters I mentioned earlier that we are seeing in different parts of the country really do show how quickly and easily the virus can be transmitted from one person to another.

And they demonstrate that all of us need to do everything we can, to ensure that we don’t give it a chance to spread.

We all have a responsibility to each other, to continue to suppress it.

And all of us can do that, by sticking to FACTS – the five golden rules that we should remember as we go out and about our everyday business.

· Face coverings in enclosed spaces
· Avoid crowded places, indoors or outdoors
· Clean your hands regularly and remember to clean hard surfaces after you have touched them.
· Two metre distancing remains the overall rule and it is important everyone remembers that and abides by it
· and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have any of the symptoms of Covid.

If we stick to these 5 rules as rigidly as we possibly can, we will help to deny the virus bridges to travel across from one person to another and from one household to another and in that way, we will all do our bit to suppress the virus and help to protect ourselves and each other.

So, I want to thank everybody who is taking care to do all this once again for that, and encourage all of you to pass that message to everybody else that you know and encourage everybody to stick to FACTS, so we can continue to keep this virus under control.