Chamber and committees

Any decision to purchase tests for a large-scale roll-out of antibody testing in Scotland will be led by clinical advice.

Antibody testing has been underway since 6 May in Scotland to support disease surveillance and we are in the process of validating a number of antibody tests to identify which ones carry the right level of efficacy and those which are identified as meeting the required quality standards will be prioritised for purchase.

As new and more reliable tests become validated, we are drawing on clinical and scientific advice to develop plans on how they will be best deployed. However, there are still significant uncertainties about what the presence of antibodies means in terms of a person’s immunity, which means that there are significant limitations in the usefulness of these tests at the current time.

These tests can have a crucial part to play in our response to COVID-19, and we will continue to listen to advice on the emerging scientific evidence on immunity.

The R number is calculated for Scotland as well as for the other three countries of the United Kingdom, and we publish it on a weekly basis. The R number is not calculated for Scottish regions, because the ranges around the estimates would be very large and that would not help us to understand the differences between areas of Scotland. Instead of doing that, we are looking at other ways of monitoring and forecasting the level of COVID-19 in regions; we use data such as the number of cases and hospitalisations to track the epidemic. The most recent daily statistics for COVID-19 in Scotland are available by health board and can be found in the daily data for Scotland . We will also use the information that starts to come through the test and protect programme. More information about the modelling is available from a series of Scottish Government reports .

The roadmap document published on 21 May sets out the criteria for easing restrictions: as we move beyond the first phase, future phases will be based on meeting particular criteria, including those set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There have been two approaches to assessment of the impact of easing restrictions on the R value. Firstly, the Scottish Government uses the publicly available Imperial College COVID-19 model adapted to fit the situation in Scotland. This uses data for other nations to estimate the impact on R of different interventions (or groups of interventions) introduced by other nations. The second approach estimates the change in the risk of COVID-19 transmission from options for easing restrictions. This is based on how many people are involved in a particular option and the change in risk of any individual transmitting the virus based on the science available at time of assessment.

The National Clinical and Practice Guidance for Adult Care Homes in Scotland states that staff should not work in more than one facility and movement between care homes must be restricted. It is recognised that this can be a fine balance in achieving appropriate staffing levels, service sustainability and reducing the risks of transmission.

It is critical that we protect care homes and their residents by using infection prevention and control techniques to reduce the impact of this virus. Health Protection Scotland has published specific guidance for infection prevention and control to support those working in care home settings which is regularly updated on their website.

The Social Care Covid19 Accelerated recruitment portal, to support social care employers should they require additional staff, remains in place to support the resilience of the workforce. This enables those with relevant skills and experience to come forward and support health and social care services at this time of national emergency, reducing the need for agency staff.

Care providers have direct access to this portal if they require support due to staff shortages.

The next phase of our testing strategy, Test and Protect, is now live. This involves tracing the close contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19. These close contacts will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days and the Scottish Government will ensure the necessary support is provided to those self-isolating.

Contact tracing will start with the highest priority people already being tested such as hospital patients and health and social care workers. Coverage will be quickly expanded as we continue to increase testing and tracing capacity.

It is important to note that Test and Protect is not a silver bullet. We must continue to view testing alongside other crucial public health measures such as physical distancing, and good respiratory and hand hygiene.

NHS labs are operating in all 14 health board areas and additional capacity is provided by the University of Edinburgh, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the University of Aberdeen and, as part of the UK Expanded Testing programme, the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab. Labs at Moredun and Scotland’s Rural College are expected to go live by the end of June. National Services Scotland are engaging with other Scottish University labs and their respective health boards.

National Services Scotland are continually assessing offers of laboratory space from various sectors in Scotland. This requires ensuring that testing is done in a way that is safe and meets high quality standards for confidence in the results and complies with due diligence. National Services Scotland are working with Enterprise Scotland to engage with private laboratories that have offered assistance.

This information is not held centrally. It may be available on request from local authorities.

The development of a new vaccine for COVID-19 is an urgent international challenge. The Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office has regular contact with equivalents in the other UK health departments as part of UK wide coordination of COVID-19-related research, and has been updated as part of this contact on the establishment of a Vaccines Taskforce to support UK efforts to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine. The first such trial opened in Scotland in late May with sites in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The CSO funded NHS research infrastructure is available to support vaccine studies as and when they are at the appropriate stage of development.

The Oxford led COV-002 vaccine trial “A phase 2/3 study to determine the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of the candidate Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19” is currently recruiting in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Reported recruitment as of this morning is 629 (324 Edinburgh and 305 Glasgow).

CSO are in active discussions with NIHR at a UK level regarding a further number of potential studies which may be placed in the UK.

In Scotland, testing is carried out both by NHS Scotland and as part of the UK Government’s drive-through and mobile testing facilities.

Through NHS laboratories, our expectation is that test results should normally be communicated back within 24 hours, though some may take up to 48 hours.

Currently, the average total turnaround time in local health board is just over 19 hours. Where tests are sent to another health board for processing, the total turnaround time is just over 44 hours. We are continuing to work with NHS National Services Scotland to secure reliable data on turnaround times to provide a baseline to report against on a weekly basis.

For testing carried out by the UK Government, the vast majority of test results are sent automatically within 48 hours, or 72 hours for home tests. As at 10 June, turnaround times for tests sent to the Lighthouse labs was 99.4% in 48 hours.

Work continues across all labs to reduce the turn around time for PCR test to as low as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28355 on 25 June 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx