ONE of Scotland's leading professors of microbiology believes environmental health officers should lead a "a fleet of contact tracers" as he calls on the Scottish Government to "ramp up capacity" for testing coronavirus patients.

Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, will appear remotely before the Scottish Parliament’s health and sport committee today, to give his views on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of his appearance, Professor Pennington, who led the inquiry into the Wishaw E.Coli outbreak in 1996, has suggested that environmental health officers could be redeployed to organise Scotland’s army of contact tracers.

He has worked for the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments as an expert on microbiology and food safety.

His expertise are currently being used by the Scottish Police Federation, which has called on Prof Pennington as an advisor on risks and safeguards for police staff during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Professor Pennington said: “Environmental health officers are well trained in public health matters and would make good trainers for a fleet of contact tracers.

“Restaurants are currently closed so they have few food premises to inspect just now.”

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Professor Pennington has also reiterated his calls for parts of Scotland such as Orkney and the Western Isles to become “test beds” for Scotland’s exit strategy, before being scaled up to the rest of the country.

He added: “A good and I think attainable target, entirely dependent on massive testing capacity, would be getting case numbers to penny numbers or even zero just before Christmas.

“Testing would continue thereafter to make sure that the virus was not creeping along under the radar. 

“Orkney and Western Isles could come out of lockdown first. If successful, the problem could be stopping the entry of virus from countries still having transmission.”

Holyrood’s health committee will be carrying out a series of inquiries into the Scottish Government’s response to Covid-19.

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The investigation will include the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), the Scottish Government’s testing policy, the impact on care homes, and the health and social care sector’s ability to manage a potential “second wave”.

Health committee convener, Lewis Macdonald, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact upon all of society and this impact is particularly acute in the health and social care sector.

“It is therefore vital that during this period of great uncertainty, parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s response continues to take place.”

“Over the coming weeks, the Health and Sport Committee will be embracing new technologies to hold online remote meetings where we will be looking at the Government’s approach to this pandemic," he added.

“We look forward to our first virtual meeting, where we will take evidence from one of the country’s foremost experts on the spread of viruses.

“We are keen to hear from Professor Pennington on the impact and implications that this crisis will have on public health, and his insight will help shape our detailed scrutiny of the government’s response going forward.”