Unveiling the “Test and Protect” system yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there is now capacity of 15,000 tests a day in Scotland for people who develop a persistent cough or fever, or lose their senses of taste and smell.

A public awareness campaign will launch this week urging symptomatic Scots to get tested now, and those whose results come back positive should provide health authorities with details of all people with whom they have been in close contact.

These could include members of their households, people they have had face to face contact with, and others they have been within two metres of for more than 15 minutes.

Laboratory technicians wearing full PPE clean test tubes containing live samples taken from people tested for the novel coronavirus. Picture: Andrew Milligan/AFP via Getty Images

The First Minister said all Scots could be contacted by an army of 2,000 tracers at any time over the coming months if they are identified by an infected person. They will then be instructed to “self-isolate” for two weeks.

In a direct appeal to the public, Ms Sturgeon said the new approach can only work if “we all play our part”.

She told the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing: “This is a big thing, it really matters. This is a system that will operate on a scale not seen before in Scotland.

“We have, of course, had testing and contact tracing before but we are substantially increasing the scale.”

When the system is formally launched tomorrow Ms Sturgeon is also expected to confirm she will press ahead with phase one of the Scottish Government’s four-stage exit from Coronavirus restrictions.

The launch of the strategy will coincide with Scotland entering phase one of its lockdown exit route map.

As the country gradually gets back to more everyday activity, the focus on suppressing the virus will shift from the “stay at home” approach to quickly identifying future cases and “isolating” the chain of people linked to them, so choking off the spread.

There is now capacity for 15,000 tests a day to be undertaken in Scotland as part of the new system, Ms Sturgeon said. New software will come into operation at health boards across the country after being piloted in Fife.

The Scottish Government had pledged to have 2,000 contact tracers in place by the end of the month. Ms Sturgeon said yesterday the Government is on course to have a pool of “around 2,000” to call upon by the end of May, although the figure yesterday stood at 1,615. Around 700 are expected to be required in the early stages.

Ms Sturgeon added: “For the first couple of weeks it will need to bed down. We’re introducing it at the same time as we take the first very cautious steps out of lockdown which gives us the opportunity to address any operational issues ahead of a potentially more substantial easing of restrictions at the next review date in three weeks.”

She said the Scottish Government has been in touch with the UK Government to “ensure that employment rights and entitlement to benefits, including statutory sick pay, take account of the fact that people might be off work or unable to attend appointments through no fault of their own”.

Being asked to isolate in this way is “something that over the months ahead could happen to any of us on more than one occasion”, Ms Sturgeon said.

“Your privacy will be respected at all times during this process,” she added, saying the information of tested persons will not be accessible by the Scottish Government and will be handled within the NHS.

In response to a question about the risk of unsolicited phone calls from fraudsters posing as contact tracers, Ms Sturgeon said: “We are taking steps at every stage here to protect people’s privacy and to make sure there is security.

“We will make sure that we give more details about exactly what those steps are, both in terms of the people giving the information about contact tracers and the people who are being contacted by a contact tracer, in terms of the steps that will be taken to ensure verification of identity.”

Opposition politicians raised concerns over the Scottish Government’s record on testing. Analysis released by the Tories yesterday showed that the daily tests in Scotland have rarely hit 50 per cent, with only 4742 being carried out on Sunday, well short of the 10,000 figure which has so far been the aim.

The Scottish Government has never met the 10,000-a-day target previously set out by the First Minister.

Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Nicola Sturgeon could have as large a testing capacity as she likes – but it won’t matter a bit if people aren’t actually being tested.

“Every day the SNP government falls well short of the target to test 10,000 a day, and more often than not misses that target by half.

“That leaves thousands of care home residents, workers and their families untested, and that’s why we’re seeing such a crisis in these facilities.

“The SNP government just hasn’t done enough to get the tests out to those who need it most.

“Exiting lockdown will be dependent on this test, trace and isolate system, and we very much want that to succeed.

“But until the issue of testing is sorted, there is little hope that it will.”

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said expectations for Test and Protect are “very high.”

“It will need to be fully operational on day one this week as we start the easing of the lockdown,” he said.

“If the R number rises it will be a sign we are not tracing and isolating those with the virus effectively and if we don’t get it right first time we may not get a second chance.

“People are nervous the Scottish government has been late in its preparations on testing and tracing so it has some ground to make up to convince people it is ready.”

The announcement by Ms Sturgeon comes amid recent concerns over progress with the “test, track and trace” coronavirus strategy being implemented south of the Border.

The NHS Confederation warned last week of “severe” consequences to staff and patients if the right system was not established quickly, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged to introduce a “world-beating” contact tracing system in England. Downing Street has confirmed that 24,000 manual contact tracers have been hired, with plans to employ an additional 1,000 people before the test, track and trace scheme starts on Monday.

The First Minister also gave the latest Covid-19 figures for Scotland.

A total of 2,291 patients have died after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 18 from 2,273 on Monday.

The First Minister said 15,185 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 29 from 15,156 the day before.

There are 1,200 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 69, and 36 people were in intensive care, a fall of four.

Fast-track test for every Scot who gets coronavirus symptoms

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