First Minister wary of 'reading too much' into lower coronavirus Covid-19 figures
For the second day in a row the Scottish Government has urged caution as the First Minister revealed the number of new infections and deaths in the country due to Covid-19 has slowed over the weekend.
Appearing alongside her at today's St Andrew's House briefing, health secretary Jeane Freeman said NHS Scotland is well on its way to reaching its goal of quadrupling the original number of intensive care beds available across the country, having already trebled the total.
Striking a cautious note about the number of cases Ms Sturegon said: "As at 9 o'clock this morning there have been 6067 positive cases confirmed. That is an increase of 155 since yesterday's figures. It is, however, important for me to note right now that we do not yet have testing figures for the last 24 hours from labs in Tayside or Ayrshire and Arran, otherwise the number that I have just reported would have been higher.
“Across Scotland, a total of 1797 patients are in hospital with Covid-19. That is an increase of 42 from the figures that were reported yesterday and a total of 200 people last night where in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 That is a decrease of 10 on yesterday's figures although, again, I would caution against reading too much into that at this stage.
"And it is with sadness that I must report there have been nine further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19, that takes the total number of deaths in Scotland to 575."
Explaining her caution about the deaths figure as well, she said: "We will always expect the number registered to be lower at the weekend and that is undoubtedly particularly true over the Easter weekend. So I would expect the figures to be higher tomorrow and the following day."
She said there were “optimistic signs that the steps we are taking are working” but said it was still unlikely that lockdown measures would be lifted in the near future.
She also gave details of a new helpline to be launched tomorrow, for those not in the shielded category, required to remain at home for 12 weeks, buy who would still be considered vulnerable and in need of additional support. The number to request assistance is 0800 111 4000.
Ms Freeman said the NHS in Scotland was well on its way to quadrupling the original capacity of intensive care beds.
“Boards now have a 'surge' capacity," she said. "That means they have the beds ready, the ventilators and trained staff for 585 beds – they can be resourced immediately and that, in effect, trebles our original capacity.
“It shows that as the virus progresses our capacity to meet anticipated demand is sufficient, but boards will continue and staff will continue to be trained to reach our objective, which is to quadruple the number of intensive care beds to 700.”
