Scotland's testing drops as the UK goes on surge to meet 100,000-tests target

The number of people tested in the UK rose by 38% from 33,455 to 54,575.

READ MORE: Coronavirus -  Scotland falls short of daily testing target by 90%

In Scotland, according to Scottish Government figures, the number of people tested for coronavirus across Scotland reported to Health Protection Scotland by laboratories actually fell over the same period from 1583 to 1557.

The details emerged after the Herald revealed how Scotland appeared to have fallen way behind on a strategy outlined by Nicola Sturgeon on April 3 to "proportionately" match with 10% of the the UK 100,000 tests-a-day target.

Wednesday’s UK figure means the government is likely to meet or will be very close to meeting the 100,000 tests goal, though it could be a few days before Thursday's testing figures are known due to a time lag in ‘verifying numbers’.

Critics have been sceptical about the government’s promise to carry out 100,000 tests per day by April 30.

Nicola Sturgeon in her daily briefing on Thursday said the key objective was to "get the virus to as low a level as possible" and then keep it there with continued social distancing and a testing and isolation regime.

She has said in any easing of lockdown, the country could return to something like the previous "containment" phase of dealing with the virus, which would involve a "test, trace, isolate" system of tracking down people who have come into contact with infectious patients and have them go into isolation.

She has warned that mass testing should not be seen as a "panacea", and that the current tests are not always reliable unless patients are showing symptoms.

The Scottish Government. which has denied missing any target, has been preparing to have the laboratory capacity to test rise to more than 3,500 daily by the end of this week. The official figures indicate that Scotland is testing  half that number.  

Testing for coronavirus is being seen as a crucial factor to easing out of lockdown - allowing the country to effectively isolate cases and their contacts to contain any spread.

Both the UK and Scottish government have been coming under fire for unpreparedness and a failure in mass testing in the current coronavirus pandemic which has claimed nearly 22,000 across the UK, with 1,415 in Scotland.

South Korea's success in keeping deaths amongst its 51.6m people to 246 was put down to early testing, tracing and surveillance.

Scottish ministers have previously been accused of shifting the goalposts on test figures by following an original target of 3,500 tests by Friday.

Meanwhile the UK government has been accelerating testing by making use of the private sector to buy commercial swab tests, by introducing new testing centres, along with the use of hospital and research sector labs to process the results to enable the UK to undertake 100,000 more tests a day over the coming weeks.

The UK numbers include swab testing in public health labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, and health and care workers as well as swab testing for health, social care and other essential workers and their households.

The Scottish Government said it was unfair to compare their figures on people being tested with the UK Government's data relating to total tests.

"The UK figure relates to tests done by all testing streams in England and also includes some tests in Scotland where the Scottish and UK Governments are working together on regional testing centres and home delivery kits," said a spokesman.  

“We have been repeatedly clear in our commitment to increasing NHS Scotland’s testing capacity to 3,500 per day by the end of April – we are confident that target will be met and the First Minister will provide an update on testing in Scotland, including capacity, on Friday.”