Anger over 80,000 'missed' COVID-19 tests in Scotland

The Scottish Government has been accused of having "missed" almost 80,000 Coronavirus tests in the past fortnight .

Covid-19 testing centre.

The Tories now say more must be done to ensure the capacity available for testing is fully utilised.

Nicola Sturgeon had previously indicated that she wanted to see 10,000 Scots a day tested by the end of April, although she has since said she was referring to testing capacity whether these were carried out or not.

Capacity does now exceed 10,000 a day in Scotland.

Jackson Carlaw says tests must be taken to Scots

But Tory leader Jackson Carlaw today claimed that 140,000 targets should have been conducted in the past fortnight. This would have meant 140,000 Scots would have been tested in the two weeks since April 30, but only 62,405 were carried out. This leaves a shortfall of 77,595.

Mr Carlaw today branded this an "inexcusable failure."

“In just the last two weeks, there were nearly 80,000 people in Scotland who should have been tested but were not," he said.

“A huge number of these will have been carers who are being forced to go into residential facilities and the community not knowing whether or not they’re taking the disease with them.

“That’s heartbreaking for them, and the vulnerable people they treat and assist with such dedication.

“In short, this failure is putting lives at risk.

“We’ve repeatedly told the SNP that if it can’t get people to testing facilities, it must take testing to them."

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