Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced community testing in areas with high coronavirus (COVID-19) prevalence will begin next year.
In a statement to Parliament on Scotland’s testing and vaccination programmes, Ms Freeman confirmed that community testing resources will be targeted at communities with high transmission rates, following successful trials in early December.
Local authorities will be asked to submit proposals for the programme in early January, which will be supported with additional funding and resources, including mobile testing units and asymptomatic test sites.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon apologises to Holyrood for face mask rule breach
Waste water sampling undertaken by SEPA and Scottish Water to track COVID prevalence will be expanded from 60 to around 200 tests per week throughout Scotland by the end of January, supported by £1.1 million in additional funding.
Discussions with local authorities are also underway regarding two models of school testing to be trialled in January. The first model will involve in-school testing using lateral flow devices, while the second will involve at-home sampling for PCR testing.
The use of larger centres in heavily populated areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Lanarkshire is being investigated to supplement local and mobile solutions for those in remote and rural areas.
NHS Boards have also been asked to continue recruitment and redeployment, with the aim of securing around 1400 vaccinators and 800 support staff by the end of January.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: SECOND mutant strain detected in the UK and quarantine ordered immediately
Ms Freeman said: “I want to acknowledge the sheer effort that has been put in to enable what has been delivered already through our testing and vaccination programmes, and what we will deliver, as I have set out in Parliament today.
“Each of these programmes presents a major logistical challenges in and of themselves. Many people from different organisations and communities have come together to make them possible and I want to put on record my sincere thanks to everyone involved.
“These are incredibly tough times for everyone, at the end of what has already been an incredibly tough year, but this continued expansion of our testing and vaccination programmes will help us meet the challenge we face to drive down COVID rates in Scotland to the lowest possible level.
“Both are vital tools in our work to suppress the virus to the lowest possible level in Scotland, but they are only as important as the other measures we have including the Levels approach, enhanced support for our NHS and care sectors and critically, individuals doing the right thing by following FACTS – all of which are crucial to prevent the spread of this harmful virus through our communities.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here