Coronavirus latest: Doctors see glimmer of light after dark weeks but warn of a second surge in infections

Intensive care doctors ­yesterday voiced hope that NHS Scotland is emerging from the worst of the Covid-19 crisis.

One medic on the frontline described a dramatic change in his Intensive Care Unit over the past week as the number of patients needing life-saving treatment began to fall. He said the number of patients cared for in ICU had halved and, after weeks of gruelling, traumatic work, staff were beginning to hope the worst is over.

However, while there was a ­glimmer of light after dark weeks, doctors warned any relaxation of the lockdown restrictions risks a second wave of cases and more deaths.

They voiced concern as official figures revealed a total of 1,231 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, a rise of 47 from Friday.

Meanwhile, across the UK, more than 20,000 people have now died in hospital from the virus, the fifth country in the world to pass the grim landmark.

Home Secretary Priti Patel described the passing of that figure as a “deeply tragic and moving moment” and warned that “we are not out of the woods yet”.

The ICU doctor, who has been working at a Scottish hospital throughout the crisis, said: “Hospital admissions, referrals and ICU admissions with Covid-19 seem to be easing and there is something in the unit that feels a little like relief, a little like glimmers of light at the end of the darkest tunnel.

“As the workload becomes more manageable it brings with it slightly shorter stints in the visors, masks, gowns and gloves, regular breaks and, with every discharge, another faint whiff of optimism. There is a suspicion that we are making headway in this particular battle although though the war rages on.”

However, while the number of patients in intensive care in NHS Scotland fell to 140 yesterday from a high of 221 on April 12, there are concerns relaxations in the lockdown restrictions could spark another peak.

Experts point to soaring ­numbers of people made ill by the virus in Japan after leaders relaxed lockdown measures.

ICU consultant Dr Shondipon Laha, honorary secretary of the UK’s Intensive Care Society, said: “We fully expect any loosening of lockdown to be followed by a rise.

“We have seen this in other ­countries where isolation was lifted. But we can see the public are already breaking lockdown, from the fact our roads have become busier. People are leaving their homes and queueing up to get into DIY stores. We fully understand that people are feeling constrained.”

However, there is now a mounting backlog of urgent, life-saving operations and treatment unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak that will draw further on ICU resources.

Dr Laha said: “Patients with bowel, oesophageal and other cancers often spend time in ICU after surgery. They have to get surgery soon before their cancers advance to become untreatable. ICU staff have been borrowed from those and other areas in our hospitals and will have to return to work on the surgery that is piling up.”

Testing for Covid-19 has been expanded in Scotland to key workers not directly employed in the health and social-care sectors.

Drive-through testing sites at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, plus the University of the Highlands and Islands campus in Inverness, will now allow symptomatic key workers and their household members to know whether they have the virus.

The sites, run by private-­sector firms on behalf of the UK Government, supplement existing testing at local NHS facilities that continue to give priority to health and social care workers.

Among those qualifying for the expansion of Covid-19 testing as key workers in the private sector and “essential services” are staff delivering services to the NHS or contractors working with it and those providing social care to protect and care for the most vulnerable and within the social care system.

Also included are staff with face-to-face roles in residential institutions with people in the care of the state, such as ­prisons, and essential workers in critical national infrastructure fundamental for safety and security – and life-line services, including defence, environmental protection, animal health and welfare, the funeral industry and food and medicine supply chains.

The provision extends to staff providing child care for key workers, public transport workers, postal services, financial services, supermarket workers, construction and essential public services, court and Crown Office staff, workers involved in volunteering, or in nationally or locally significant industry important to economic sustainability and growth.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said people who have recovered may not be immune and could be reinfected as more countries move to ease lockdowns.

Officials say there is “currently no evidence people who have ­recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a ­second infection”.

Ministers hope antibody testing will play a key part in establishing the rate of infection in the community allowing more people to go back to work.

Globally, shops began to reopen in India while lockdown orders began to be lifted in US states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska even as the confirmed US death toll climbed past 50,000 and health experts warned restrictions might be relaxed too son.

Some Spanish beaches are set to reopen today for the first time in six weeks for parents with their children. Meanwhile, in other ­developments yesterday:

• UK’s new virus testing website for key workers ran out of slots within an hour of reopening yesterday.
• A study by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre found that two-thirds of Covid-19 patients who required ventilation in intensive care have died.
• For the 10th straight day, China reported no new virus deaths.
• The number of deaths worldwide reached 200,698 last night.
• Brazil’s hospitals, morgues and cemeteries face being overwhelmed as the country veers closer to becoming one of the world’s pandemic hot spots.
• Italians have celebrated the 75th anniversary of their country’s liberation from occupation forces in the Second World War by emerging on balconies or rooftops to sing a folk song linked to resistance fighters.